Abstain Ye Not
by Furor Scribiendi
Summary: It's been a long ten years but the war's over. Harry, much changed, is a bit unsure of what to do next. That is until some new information comes to light and Harry finds himself going far from England to finish something he thought he'd done.
1. Chapter 1

_**Title**_: Abstain Ye Not  
_**Feedback**_: furor dot scribiendi gmail dot com  
_**Pairing**_: HP/LM  
_**Rating**_: R  
_**Disclaimer**_: If I owned Harry Potter, do you think I would be worried about my mounting student debt? I don't own them and I'm certainly not making any money from this so, obviously, I mean no copyright infringement.  
_**Summary**_: It's been a long ten years but the war's over. Harry, much changed, is a bit unsure of what to do next. That is until some new information comes to light and Harry finds himself going far from England to finish something he thought he'd done. The only problem is that things get a little complicated in the process.  
_**Category**_: Drama/Action/Adventure/Romance  
_**Warnings**_: Language/Violence/OMC/BDSM  
_**Notes**_: This is a post HBP fic, with selected canonical information from DH. Now, a bit of an explanation of what a Dark Hunter is as they feature predominantly in this fic.

Dark Hunters are essentially the Wizarding equivalent of bounty hunters. They specifically hunt down Dark witches and wizards. Dark Hunters tends to roam globally rather than locally, due to the ease of travel as allowed by Flooing, illegal Portkeys and such. As such, there is an extraordinary amount of co-operation between magical governments in regards to Dark Hunters and allowing them to apprehend wanted witches and wizards at large. The only stipulation is that the wanted Dark witch or wizard in be handed back over to their home country for prosecution. Since there is no formalised training, almost anyone can become a Dark Hunter. Those that failed Auror/magical law enforcement testing, or for other reasons, opt to become Dark Hunters. However, the profession does tend to have a unusually high mortality rate, due to witches and wizards getting into something they can't handle. Most Dark Hunters tends to be exceptionally skilled in DADA, Charms (offensive, defensive and healing) and Duelling. While Dark Hunters are technically employed by their respective country ministry, they aren't bound by as many rules as Aurors/official magical law enforcement. While there is no formal association, there is a generally agreed upon ranking that determines how successful a Dark Hunter is.

Master (150 captures)  
Teacher (90-150 captures)  
Journeyman (25-90 captures)  
Apprentice (10-25 captures)  
Rookie (just started-10 captures)

What generally happens is that if someone survives long enough to reach Apprentice level, is that someone at the Teacher level takes them under their wing briefly. There is a camaraderie amongst Dark Hunters and they tend to look out for their own. Information is passed along to one another, and sometimes, Dark Hunters will work together in packs if a job has enough money for them to split to make a decent profit.

* * *

Bright sunlight was the last thing Harry wanted to see now. He rolled over in bed and looked at the clock on the bedside table. Three in the afternoon. Grumbling to himself, he got out of bed and quickly pulled on a pair of pants. The flat was small and it was a short walk to the kitchen where he fixed himself his usual cup of coffee. The only thing that made this day different was the fact that he wasn't in some pressing hurry. 

Voldemort was finally dead. It had taken a gruelling decade but the self-styled Dark Lord had breathed his last and was no longer a thorn in Harry's side.

He stared down into his coffee cup before he drained it to the dregs and left it in the sink. He wasn't too sure what he'd do now. But he'd been going non-stop since he'd decided not to go back to Hogwarts. Maybe a vacation was in order. Or something to relax. He felt like he was wound a bit too tightly. It would only be a matter of time before he snapped or the like.

It didn't take long to go back to the bedroom and toss on some clothes. It took even less time to walk outside and head for Diagon Alley. When he got there, it was still peculiar to see the place look so empty. It had still been busy as Voldemort had grown in power, and when he'd taken over at the Ministry for a brief period. But as the war escalated, most people didn't linger. They didn't want to be kidnapped or simply vanish. People were still fearful of being out for too long and the result was the street looking forlorn and empty rather than crammed full of people. He walked down the main street, feeling like he was out of place. He paused in front of Eeylops for a moment before he decided against it and continued on. If he couldn't bring himself to buy another owl now, he probably wouldn't ever. When Magical Menagerie came up, he paused for a moment and went in. A solid wall of sound greeted him as he stepped in, and he could see the harried owner with an armful of Puffskeins. He waited until she was done and walked over.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, how can I help you dear?" she pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Oh my! Mr Potter!"

There were times Harry wished the whole world was blind so he didn't have to go through this every time someone saw him. He dredged up a quick smile. "I was wondering if I could take a look at your ravens, Ms..."

"Oh I'm Miss Park. Er, Kara Park. And of course that's my name, why would it be something different." she gave a tremulous laugh and started for the other side of the store. "Sorry it's just... I never thought you would come in my store. Most people head over to Eeylops. Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Not really," Harry said as he stopped in front of the rows of cages. "I need another bird."

"I see. Most people prefer owls, but ravens are the way to go if you ask me," Kara straightened her shirt and adjusted her hair once more. She seemed to be getting her bearings, not to mention her self-control, back."Do you know much about raven care?"

"A bit." It was a bit disconcerting to have so many beady eyes focused on him so intently.

"Well then, I'll let you pick one and you can let me know when you're ready. If you need help with anything, just give a shout."

"Thank you." Harry replied.

Kara was already halfway to the back of the shop and probably didn't hear what he said. Most of the ravens now seemed to not pay attention to him any more and went back to preening themselves, eating or sleeping. He walked along the wall, unsure of what he was looking for. It was when he reached the end that a flash of white that caught his eye. Curious, he crouched down. Here in the corner was a raven that had a splotch of white on its back. The raven seemed to realise someone was watching it, since it looked up at him and cocked its head. Harry reached down and picked up the cage. The other ravens started squawking, and the raven he was holding ruffled its feathers and squawked right back. Harry could have sworn he heard a touch of defiance in that squawk. Kara came around the corner looking harried again.

"What's set you lot off now?" Kara paused when she saw the cage in his hand. "Oh, Marvin."

"Marvin?" Harry repeated.

"I didn't know what else to call him," Kara shook her head. "He's been here so long, poor sweetheart. Everybody likes their ravens to just be black."

Harry looked at the raven and back at the other ones on the wall. "How much for him?"

"I'll give him to you for five Galleons and five Sickles. I've just wanted him to go to a good home for the longest while."

Harry nodded his head as he opened the cage door. The raven hopped to the edge, looked at Harry and then flapped up to his shoulder. Kara smiled.

"Think he likes me." Harry said as he reached for his mokeskin purse and took out the money.

"I'd have to agree," Kara put the money in the till that opened and closed itself. "Now, how about some nice treats for Marvin here?"

When Harry left the shop five minutes later it was with one raven, a bag fill of treats and a strange feeling. He couldn't explain where it came from. It was almost an overwhelming feeling that something wasn't right. He hadn't lived through the past decade by ignoring that feeling, but he couldn't explain what the cause was. After a moment he let it drop. He could puzzle it out later when he got back home.

"So... Marvin. Somehow, you don't particularly look like a Marvin." Harry looked over to find the raven had ruffled his feathers once more. "Definitely need a new name for you. How about... Munin?" he got a squawk, a flapping of wings and then a preening bird on his shoulder. "Munin it is. I've had enough for one day. How about we go home?"

* * *

Harry didn't particularly want to be at the Ministry tonight. After two days of peace and quiet going anywhere was the last thing he wanted. But when the invitation arrived and Harry saw who had written to him, he didn't know how to turn it down. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the newly appointed Minister for Magic, was probably one of the last few people in England whom he could refuse. So he had dressed up nicely and shown up at seven in the evening on the nose. And two hours later, he was wandering the room and trying to avoid small talk as if it was the bubonic plague. That in and of itself was difficult since everyone wanted to talk to the person who had killed Voldemort. And what made matters worse, he'd only seen Kingsley once since this event had started and had agreed to say a few words. 

He didn't know what he was thinking, agreeing to something like that especially since he had no clue of what the hell he would even say. He hated talking to large groups of people who were just watching him. It wasn't like the DA when he spoke and then helped others. He continued to wander through the crowd, always making excuses when someone tried to get him into a conversation. It seemed like forever before he noticed Kingsley making his way up to the podium with a retinue behind him. Harry made a direct beeline for them. Someone noticed and tapped Kingsley on the shoulder. Kingsley looked around and waved at Harry to join them. Once they came to a stop, Kingsley pushed his retinue out of the way and threw an arm around Harry's shoulder. Somehow Kingsley almost looked the same. Only now, there were small worry lines around his eyes and harsh creases by his mouth, from frowning with worry. Not to mention the small goatee on his chin that was more grey than black.

"Good to see you Harry," Shacklebolt gave him a warm smile.

Harry managed to smile back. He only hope that it didn't look forced. "Not as if I could refuse the Minister himself. And one who's not a stubborn jackass to boot."

Kingsley laughed, attracting attention from onlookers. "I'm glad you decided to say something. Just do me one favour: don't say what they want to hear. Say what they _need_ to hear."

Kingsley patted him on the shoulder and went up to stand in front of the podium. Suddenly Harry didn't feel quite so stupid for agreeing to this. He'd tell them exactly what they needed to hear alright. The crowd was turning to look at Kingsley and the murmur of conversation was dying down. Once the room was entirely quiet, Kingsley drew his wand, murmured the Sonorus spell and then spoke.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming," Kingsley's voice was grave and it echoed slightly in the large quiet room. "It's been a long decade, but it's finally been done: we've beaten the Dark Lord."

A twinge of displeasure surged through Harry at that. There was still something that didn't feel right about this to Harry. But he stood, vaguely listening to Kingsley talking about the changes that were coming to the wizarding world so things like this never happened again. The feeling did lessen as Kingsley talked and it took him a bit by surprise when someone elbowed him sharply in the ribs. He almost drew his wand, but then remembered where he was. Kingsley wasn't at the podium any more, but was standing in front of and looking at him expectantly. Harry walked up to the podium quickly, clearing his throat and casting Sonorus on himself with his wand. He hadn't ever looked forward to pissing off so many people intent on celebrating.

"I still don't know why Kingsley asked me to say something. Guess he decided to leave much of it to me," he paused as a ripple of laughter passed through the room. "But as he said it's been a long decade, but we've finally done it. We've killed Voldemort," he waited for the twitter of nervousness to pass through the crowd. "It's not been without its sacrifices. Friends, family, loved ones... we've all lost someone to Voldemort and his delusions of grandeur. Some we didn't lose. At least not physically." He paused and swallowed, the memory of Hermione in St Mungo's swimming to the surface of his mind. "And there is nothing that will ever bring them back to us.

"The Minister is right: we can't let this happen again. We must _never_ forget the acts that Voldemort and the Death Eaters perpetrated. And we cannot ever forget that we ourselves were complicit in aiding Voldemort in his bid for power." There was an uneasy ripple that passed through the room now. Harry was pretty sure that he shouldn't have enjoyed it as much as he did. But he couldn't deny that it was fun to see some of the self-righteous, pious fools squirm. "I'm sure plenty of people in this room remember Alastor Moody. To say the least, he was a bit unorthodox but his constant phrase was true. It was true in the first war with Voldemort, and it fell on a lot of deaf ears the second time around: constant vigilance.

"The Ministry is there to see to large matters yes, but we ourselves must do our part. Moody was damned well right. Constant vigilance is the price we pay so we don't end up with the higher cost. The one that is paid in blood, in loved ones. In orphaned children and broken homes. The price that is paid in broken people and a broken, disillusioned society. We must never forget that cost. We've paid that cost twice now, after Voldemort's first ascent to power and now, after the long and terrible run of his second bid to take over the wizarding world. There are some here who have seen that terrible cost up close and first hand. Never forget that cost. And never let anyone else forget it either."

He looked over the crowd for a long moment, watching his words sink in. After a moment had passed, he stepped down from the podium. There was still silence, and somehow Harry wasn't surprised. They wanted to bury their heads again with something cheerful and inspiring. And he couldn't blame Kingsley for asking him to do it. Kingsley couldn't afford to be the one to say it as the new Minister. It had to come from someone that the wizarding populace would be hard pressed to find fault with. Harry was the perfect person to say that.

Kingsley quickly got back up onto the podium and started talking once more. Harry found that the longer he stood there waiting for Kingsley to finish the more uncomfortable he became. When Kingsley finally finished, Harry made his excuses and left promptly. He didn't want to listen to people make their excuses and try to justify themselves. He started walking home, but as he stepped onto Charing Cross street, everything in him rebelled against going back to his flat at the moment. It only took a moment of thought before he decided on where he was going. There was pressure and darkness before Charing Cross was replaced by Ottery St Catchpole. He could even see the top most turret of the Burrow. But he wasn't going there; it wasn't the same place of chaotic warmth, and just thinking about that left Harry feeling depressed. It was snowing here already and, as he started walking away from the Burrow, it crunched underneath his feet.

The graveyard he arrived in fifteen minutes later was fairly small. But he started walking towards the back, knowing which headstone he was looking for. The tombstones seemed to grow as he made his way further in and when he finally came to a stop, he was surrounded by Weasley family tombstones. But he was standing in front of the one he wanted. The etched words of 'Ronald Bilius Weasely' were still clear, unlike the other tombstones. Harry stared at it for a few minutes before he spoke.

"Been awhile since I last came to see you," he paused for a moment. "Hermione's doing okay. She's still at St Mungo's. It's getting harder and harder to visit her thought. She keeps asking about you, talking about you and I can't keep lying to her. And I can't tell her the truth. It'll devastate her, and the Healer said... well, I don't want to set back her recovery. It's already shaky at best. I don't know what to do and I think I'm reaching the end of my rope." he didn't say anything for a long moment, cursing himself for finding it so hard to speak. "I finally got a new bird. Couldn't get an owl, not after Hedwig. Got a raven instead, he's got a patch of white on his back. Renamed him Munin. It was Marvin, but that seemed like a terrible name for him," he paused once more. "Merlin, I wish you were still here. Maybe then everything wouldn't seem so weird, and you can call me an idiot for feeling like Voldemort isn't dead... yeah, isn't that stupid? I killed him, but it doesn't feel like he's dead for whatever reason."

He stood there for a bit longer before he dug into his pocket. He found some Dungbombs, a packet of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and Snarfle Snaps. He patted down some of the snow in front of Ron's tombstone and placed the stuff on top. Once he built up a little wall of snow around it, he dusted the excess from his fingers and turned, leaving the graveyard. He could Apparate home right now, but decided not to. He could use the walk.

* * *

Early dawn wasn't Harry's favourite time of day; too many things always happened then. The sunlight was just starting to creep over the horizon and brighten up the bedroom. Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a cold cup of coffee and staring out the window. His mind was still turning over the puzzling dream that had woken him up an hour ago. Dreams weren't something that came often to him now. Since Severus had taught him Occlumency at Minerva's behest, his mind was like a vise. Nothing got in or out. Usually. 

But this... he wasn't too sure if this was actually a dream or something else.

All he could recall was looking down at a hideous baby, that had looked more reptilian more than anything else. It was as if someone dropped a snake scale into some Polyjuice and made a baby drink it, but the transformation didn't completely take. But the strangest thing about the whole thing was that it looked like he was looking down at himself from someone else's eyes. And what topped the whole thing off was that odd croaked whisper that repeatedly mumbled something over and over again.

Of course, he felt like a right idiot because there was a part of his brain telling him exactly what it meant. He just didn't really want to listen to it. After a decade, he just wanted to get on with his damn life. Hell, even his gut believed it as well. But his rational brain was fighting it like hell.

He was not going to have a good week.

* * *

Lucius was miserable. Correction: he was cold, miserable, the only Malfoy left and currently in the company of the insane with the notable exception of Severus. It was early October and they were somewhere in the forsaken forested hills of Romania, slowly moving eastward. Being in the middle of a forest at the edges of Europe was not Lucius' idea of the victory the Dark Lord had promised them. Of course, that was before most of the other Death Eaters were either killed or captured. He supposed he should count himself lucky that he managed to escape or he would be rotting away in Azkaban again, with no hope of release. 

They were huddled around a pitiful fire, trying to keep warm in the bitter cold. Greyback, who was chewing on a bloody piece of meat, seemed to be the only one not bothered and sat a bit away from them. Alecto and Dolohov were muttering to themselves and rocking back and forth, probably still bemoaning the loss of their wands. Bellatrix was the only one that seemed content. Of course that could have something to do with the fact that the Dark Lord was in her arms in the form of an infant. Lucius couldn't help but think that this would be the closest she ever got to motherhood, since it seemed that no matter how many times she slept with the Dark Lord or Rodolphus, she never once got pregnant. He had a suspicion as to why it was only Bellatrix who was allowed to handle the Dark Lord, but he didn't see any proof yet.

Lucius had thought he had seen the last of that ugly, twisted form after that one time in the graveyard at Little Hangleton. Now, when he looked at this... being who was supposed to be his lord and master, all he could think about was Draco and Narcissa, how the Dark Lord had killed them for his mistake. The anger would bubble and burn at the back of his throat, and he knew that he could easily indulge in the physicality of wrapping his fingers around that frail neck, squeezing and possibly giving him a good hard shake to snap that wretched neck in the process. Of course, if anyone made a move towards the Dark Lord, Bellatrix would be beside him in an instant, baring her teeth and growling.

He never thought he'd think this but if he ever got out of this situation intact, he would personally thank Neville Longbottom for giving Bellatrix, the crazy bitch that she was, a sample of her own wandwork.

The fire popped and Lucius moved in closer beside Severus. Severus looked over at him, with the promise of pain in his eyes. Lucius mouthed the word, 'food' and the look dimmed slightly in Severus' eyes.A mild flush of relief surged through Lucius at that. They'd all been on edge since fleeing England, and it was nothing short of divine intervention that they had worked together this long without murdering one another.

"Lucius and I are going to look for food." Severus announced as he rose.

Lucius stood hastily beside him as half-hearted assent greeted them. Greyback gave a dry laugh as he tore off another bloody chunk of meat.

"Should have come hunting with me," the werewolf wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, leaving a bloody smear across his face. "Then you might not look like you're dying."

There was a pronounced silence at that as everyone but Bellatrix looked at Greyback for a moment. Lucius knew what everyone else was thinking. What Greyback was eating had probably once been a person and no one here was that into cannibalism. Severus opened his mouth to say something, but then seemed to think better of it. He gestured to Lucius and they started walking away from the fire. Once they were safely out of earshot, Severus rounded on him.

"What the hell do you really want from me?"

Lucius just looked at Severus for a moment. "I want you to do something for me."

"What are you blithering about?" Severus began a moment later. "You want me to do something for you? In case you haven't noticed, I'm starving to death along side you and those other idiots back there."

"Don't play dumb with me. I know you worked for the Order."

There was a pronounced silence from Severus before he asked, "And how long have you known this?"

"The past decade. I didn't tell the Dark Lord about it so, whether you like it or not, you owe me one."

Severus scowled but he nodded his head. "What do you want?"

"I want Voldemort dead," Lucius couldn't exactly say why he snarled so viciously, or actually used the Dark Lord's proper name. "And I know the Order can achieve that, if they haven't totally disbanded by now."

Silence fell now as Severus was busy staring at him with a slack-jawed expression of amazement. Lucius inhaled a deep breath and straightened his dirty robes. Severus snapped out of it.

"Have you lost your wits?"

"No," Lucius paused before he said bitterly, "You'll at least be back in England to warn the right people that the Dark Lord isn't dead. I have nothing left to lose now from this gamble except for my life and I can assure you it's probably worth very little at the moment."

"And if I leave now, how do you plan on fending with the others? They look at you as little more than scum. You'll be dead at the first chance they get."

"I rather think they might have a change of heart," Lucius said. "Especially when you leave and I'm the only other one with a wand."

Severus scrutinised Lucius. "Your wand was destroyed if I recall correctly, and you never got a new one."

"I have a wand." Lucius simply stated.

"Let me see it."

Lucius reached beneath his robes and under his grimy shirt. The wood was warm in his hands and he reluctantly drew it out for Severus to see. The length of pale juniper gleamed dully in the starlight, evoking memories. Oh Lucius remembered this wand well. He remembered his wife's pale hands wielding it as she desperately tried to save Draco and then herself...

"Isn't that -" Severus began with a furrow in his brow.

"Yes," Lucius cut him off with a clipped tone and he put the wand back, hidden out of sight. "So, as you can see, I'll have more than enough protection."

Severus finally seemed satisfied. "I'll talk to Potter. He'll hunt down the Dark Lord and tear him into bloody strips for escaping yet again."

Lucius didn't doubt that for a moment. "Let's just find a farm and hopefully get some food."

"I believe there is one a bit of the way back," Severus replied as they started walking once more. "Where else would Greyback find his... preferred meat."

Lucius let Severus take the lead and they came upon a farmhouse after almost an hour of walking. Severus turned to look at Lucius, pulling him back into the trees.

"Once we are done here, I am leaving." Severus was silent for a moment. "After that, you are on your own. Continue onwards to Asia, and I'll do all I can to see that Potter follows you. But do _not_ make it easy for him. I intend to rile him up. And if he finds you too soon, he may be inclined to kill first and ask questions later."

"Not that he did much of that towards the end." Lucius muttered.

Severus made a disgusted sound and gave Lucius a shake. "Do you understand me?"

"Very well," Lucius was silent for a moment before he spoke once more. "Could you tell Potter something for me?"

To Severus' credit, he didn't look startled. He only slid Lucius a look before nodding his head. Lucius could only hope that this would help Potter do in the maniac once and for all.

* * *

This didn't feel right. None of this had felt right for the past three weeks. Here he was at a party, celebrating Voldemort's defeat, and he felt like the battle still wasn't over. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something was incomplete, unfinished. And it didn't help that the dream with the weird baby hadn't abated. He sighed and absently rubbed at his forehead. This wasn't the place to mope about it, and certainly not in a corner. It would be bound to attract - 

"Hello hello, Harry."

_'Too late'_. Harry looked up as George popped out from the crowd. George's face was almost as red as his hair and Harry wondered how much he had to drink.

"Why sit here and mope?" George waved a hand about. Unfortunately, it had a drink and some of it sloshed over the side. "Whoops. Anyway, Gin's over there and -"

Harry wasn't about to go into this again. "And looking quite attached to Seamus. Look, I just need a minute or two to myself."

"No worries," George clapped him on the back. "We're planning on taking off in an hour or so. You're welcome to join us if you like."

Harry didn't know who 'we' were exactly, but he forced himself to give a grin and waved George off. He'd better move, since it would now only be a matter of time before someone else came and pestered him. And if one more person dropped the broad hint about him and Ginny once more, he would not be responsible for the hex used on that person. He looked down at his glass of Firewhiskey just in time to see an odd reflection appear in it. He looked up again and saw a shock of yellow hair and a very familiar face.

"Wotcher," Tonks' voice was low, sombre and urgent. "Minerva needs to speak to you immediately."

Harry nodded and followed her through the throng of people. This seriously had to be the first time Harry had seen Grimmauld Place packed to capacity. They headed for the top-most floor, the sounds of revelry growing quieter as they ascended. Tonks ushered him into a room and locked the door behind them, before placing a few spells on it. There was a hiss and the odd sensation of the air pressing down for a moment. Minerva was standing beside a lone fireplace, while Kingsley, Tonks and Hestia sat in the crescent of seats. Since Dumbledore's death a little more than a decade ago, she'd taken over. And slowly, over the years, worry and fights had carved deep lines in her face. But now, she looked more grave and weary than Harry had ever seen her. Everyone else in the room wore similar expressions. It would take an idiot to not know what this was about. Minerva turned to look at him and Harry could see it in her eyes. His heart dropped and his gut clenched with anger.

"He's not dead is, he?"

The silence grew more pronounced at Harry's words and it was a long moment before Minerva spoke.

"No, he is not. The last intelligence we received from Severus says that You-Know-Who managed to survive. As far as I know, he managed to escape."

Harry was really starting to hate the wily bastard. "Did we miss a Horcrux?"

"No," Minerva shook her head. "Something happened that made him revert back to his infant form before he got his new body."

Harry wanted to curse, he really did. To have spent the past decade of his life attempting to kill Voldemort and finally succeed, only to be told three weeks later that Voldemort was still alive... This time he'd hunt down the insane bastard and kill him with his bare hands if need be.

"Do we know where he is now?" Kingsley asked.

As if on cue, there was a loud knock at the door. Hestia hurried over and opened it. Severus staggered in, looking like he'd walked through all levels of hell twice. Hestia hurried him over to her seat and went back to lock the door and recast the spells. The incident with Nagini and being forced to work with the man for the past ten years had created a sort of grudging respect. Harry nodded his head in curt greeting to the man, but that was as far as he ever went. Severus did the same before he looked at Minerva.

"He's fleeing from Europe with the few Death Eaters he has left. He doesn't want to risk Potter finding him and killing him before he's had time to regroup his strength. That's the last intelligence I can give."

"Does he know about the Order disbanding?" Minerva asked.

Severus was silent for a moment. "No, he does not. However he's taking no chances of being found again," Severus continued on. "When I was last with him, it was in the wilds of Romania near Transylvania. There was talk of seeking refuge on the other side of the Atlantic, but that's bound to change now."

There was silence for a moment before Harry spoke. "Do you think he might head for Asia?"

"It's entirely possible." Severus admitted.

"So either way, he could be going in one of two directions," Minerva stepped in now. "If we treat this quietly, get the Ministry to keep an eye out for troublemakers here, as well as asking our allies overseas, we'll hear something before sending a team out."

"No team." Harry said now. "Just me."

Everyone turned to stare at him now. Severus was the first one to speak.

"As much as I admire the perseverance of your fool-hardy wish to die, it would be more prudent for you to travel with others. As far as I know he has Alecto, Dolohov, Greyback, Lucius and Bellatrix with him."

Harry could feel everyone looking at him as he snorted. "Alecto and Dolohov don't have half a brain between them and Bellatrix... well, I think we all know that she's no better than a pet now since Neville got to her,"

Everyone was glancing at one another, the hesitation unspoken. Harry pressed on.

"So I'm pretty sure my only problem will be Greyback and Lucius. At best."

The silence in the room was still uneasy, and Minerva sounded tired when she spoke once more.

"Harry, I still don't think that's such a wise idea."

"Oh, okay," Harry really didn't feel like arguing the points of this. "Then why don't we go downstairs and let everyone celebrating know that Voldemort's not dead yet and we need to start assembling teams to catch him once more." The silence now turned awkward. Harry sighed and rubbed his face. "I'm a Dark Hunter. This is what I do. And I have rarely worked well in a team," He didn't say anything about Hermione and Ron. "So I'm going after him. If I leave tonight, I might be able to pick up a fresh trail."

"Pick up a fresh trail where Harry?" Tonks finally spoke. "We don't know where the blazes he's heading to."

"You don't spend a decade hunting someone down without learning something of their habits. Plus with half the contacts I have outside of Europe, it'll be easier for me to find him alone."

"Fine, fine," Minerva finally said. "We could argue until we turn as blue as a Doxy, but it'll get us nowhere. Since you are so determined, then by all means do so. But I strongly urge you to contact any one of us if you need assistance," her expression softened. "We don't want to go through the same thing you did."

Harry's heart clenched as he thought of Hermione in St. Mungo's and Ron's tombstone, but he nodded. "Aren't I always careful?" There came grumbles of dissent, but Harry shook his head. "Some things never change."

"Severus, is there anything you feel Harry needs to know before he leaves?"

"... I would prefer to speak with him privately about it." Severus finally said.

Minerva nodded her head and left the room. Everyone else filed out until it was just the two of them left. Harry stood there wondering when the man would decide to speak. Five minutes must have passed when Severus spoke slowly and quietly.

"Have you been to see Miss Granger lately?"

"Three weeks ago, after I thought I killed the maniac." Harry answered. "What didn't you want to say in front of Minerva?"

Severus didn't speak for a moment. "Are you sure you're doing this for the right reasons?"

"A little late to be asking that question, don't you think?"

Harry sat down in one of the chairs, looking at Severus. The dark haired man was watching the fire intently, as if he was collecting his thoughts for some blistering argument. He wasn't expecting the tone of finality when Severus spoke once more.

"It's been a decade Potter. A decade of bitter fighting and heavy losses. He killed your best friend and that lapdog of his tortured your other one so badly that she's in St Mungo's right alongside Longbottom's parents. And when you thought it was all over, you find out it isn't and now you have to chase him down once more and kill him again. And you want to tell me that the Erumpent horn hasn't exploded yet? I think you're lying through your wretched little teeth."

A scowl came to Harry's face. "What, do you want me to tell you that my motivation for killing the bastard is completely noble and unselfish? You're holding out for a lot you're not going to get."

"I want to make sure you're not running off with a rash idea that you'll kill Voldemort even if it means killing yourself in the process."

"Yeah, well, you don't need to worry about that."

Severus gave a bark of dry laughter. "Don't I? Shall I recount what happened when you found out the Dark Lord kidnapped Ronald Weasley? And then Miss Granger?"

"No, you don't." Harry gritted his teeth.

"I think I need to, since you seem determined to walk the same bloody path again."

"Which, quite frankly, I don't think is any of your damned business and my own damned choice."

Severus seemed to swell a bit with rage at that, and Harry felt more comfortable with the more familiar emotion directed at him from the potions master.

"I think it's my 'damned business' as you put it, since I have spent the past thirty one years making sure you didn't die. And I'll be damned if you decide now to throw away your mother's sacrifice and get yourself killed because you want some vengeance."

"And you're one to talk?" Harry sneered.

Severus moved and what seemed like a split second later, he was standing in front of Harry and scowling at him. Harry hadn't wasted any time either and had drawn his wand, aiming it right for Severus' throat.

"I refuse to let Lily's sacrifice be in vain." Severus ground out.

Harry didn't say anything, just staring back at Severus. Severus looked back at Harry for a long moment before he straightened back up.

"I don't know exactly what happened that night in Poland," Severus said quietly after a moment. "And I'm sure your chosen profession of being an over glorified bounty hunter hasn't helped matters. I never thought I would say this, but you've turned out worse than me to some degree. I used to see Lily in you, but you've done an exemplary job of killing that part of yourself."

Harry scowled up at him, wanting to lash back out and deny it. But anything he said now would only be fuel for the fire. Severus continued to watch him for a moment before he tilted his head slightly.

"I have a message for you."

"From?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

Harry looked up at Severus, brows furrowed in puzzlement. "Lucius Malfoy? That bastard is still alive?"

"Quite. He said, 'The beast is key.' Does that mean anything to you?"

"Nothing at all." Harry frowned. What the hell was Lucius Malfoy doing trying to help him out _now_?

Severus seemed content now that he had delivered his news and walked to the door. Harry didn't bother to say goodbye. The door opened a few seconds later but Severus' footsteps didn't sound.

"I'd rather not have to bury you beside Lily. I thought I would have to do that once, and I'd rather not go through it again. Insufferable whelp."

The door closed after Severus' last sentence and Harry swore darkly to himself. He didn't know where Severus got off, passing judgment on him. He really wasn't having a good week.


	2. Chapter 2

Everything had gone to hell since Severus left.

They had, somehow, managed to find a farmhouse and something edible to eat. Why Muggles stored their comestibles in a large metal box was beyond Lucius, but Severus had seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Severus had set him to look in the metal box for food while he looked through the pantries. And Severus, damn his black soul, had whacked Lucius on the head with something. When Lucius had come to a few minutes later, he was on the floor and staring at a metal vase that had a bloody smear on the side. Severus was nowhere to be seen. Grimacing, he touched the back of his head and his fingertips came back bloody. Not pleasant, but there was precious little he could do about it at the moment. He quickly gathered up some food and made his way back to camp, not caring enough to obliterate his steps. They'd be leaving once they'd eaten anyhow. Once he was outside the house, he paused long enough to rub a few handfuls of snow against the back og his head, attempting to wash out some of the blood from his hair.

Needless to say, his solo arrival back at the camp came with thinly veiled suspicion. When he doled out the food, Alecto and Dolohov fell on it immediately, ripping off chunks and stuffing it in their mouths as fast as they could. Bellatrix was feeding small pieces to the Dark Lord and Greyback was simply sitting there and watching them all.

This was not the most ideal situtation, hiding out on the border of Albania and Greece. At least it wasn't for much longer. If Potter wasn't coming after them yet, then he wouldn't be for another few hours. Lucius waited until everyone was almost done eating before he spoke.

"We need to move."

Everyone, barring Bellatrix, looked at him. Lucius would have been an idiot to miss the contempt in their eyes. Wonderful: he now had to put them in their place.

"If you idiots bothered to listen to -"

"We heard you," Greyback growled as he rose and stretched his arms. He walked over to Lucius and stopped a few paces away, a sneer on his lips and derision in his eyes. "And quite frankly, I don't think a pissy little fop of a coward like you should be the one to lead us."

If Lucius didn't take control now everything could fall apart on him. And he didn't particularly feel like becoming Greyback's next meal. "And a mangy cur is any better?"

The derision in Greyback's eyes was swiftly replaced with anger. "I warned you Lucius -"

All Lucius did was raise an eyebrow as he slipped his hands into his pockets. Greyback snarled and charged at him. Lucius didn't waste any time, his fingers grasping the wand and whipping it out. Greyback was less than a step away from him when Lucius jammed the tip right against Greyback's Adam's apple. The werewolf made a choked sound, but he stopped moving. Greyback's eyes was clouded with rage, and Lucius smirked.

"Let me rephrase that: and a mangy, _impulsive_, cur is any better? It's nice to see you can still control yourself Fenrir."

Greyback's lips pulled back into a snarl but he didn't move. Lucius was keenly aware of Dolohov and Alecto looking at him intently now. When he glanced over, Bellatirx was still feeding the Dark Lord, only now she was crooning. That gutteral, ragged voice of hers was disturbing to hear and Lucius didn't think he would ever get used to it. He looked at Greyback once more.

"As I _said_, we need to move. As in right after we've finished eating. If you thought I was bad enough, who do you think Severus will go running to in an effort to save his skin?"

"Potter." Alecto barked, her voice bitter and harsh.

"Precisely. And I, for one, do not wish for him to catch me. I'd rather think he'll be very angry that the Dark Lord lived given everything that happened to him and his friends, don't you? Or would you rather stay here and feast on the locals, Greyback?"

Fresh anger sparked in Greyback's eyes, but when Lucius quickly glanced at Alecto and Dolohov and he saw that he had them. There was nothing quite like instilling some fear to get idiots to listen to you. It also helped that he was now the sole wandbearer with Severus' departure. Sitting on information was always a good thing. It left you with a few surprises and options.

Greyback glared at him before taking a step back and whispering softly, "I'll eat you Lucius Malfoy, bones and all, before I die."

Lucius smiled graciously. "And I'm sure you'll be flayed before long by someone wanting revenge."

It was another moment of Greyback staring at him before the werewolf moved away, nursing his wounded pride. At least he had Dolohov and Alecto on his side. They would see his wand as the ends to the means and would protect him as best they could. At least, until they felt they could safely kill him and take the wand.

Alecto gulped down the last bit of her cheese before she spoke. "Where are we headed now?"

"We're still heading east. It's the last thing Potter and the others would expect from us, since Severus will undoubtedly tell them that's where we're heading anyway," Lucius paused for a moment. This could be his chance to be rid of Greyback. "But a false trail heading west should be laid."

There was some glancing around at that and then Dolohov spoke. "I'll do it. Try to be spotted only once or twice in a country. But it would probably work better if there was someone else with me,"

Lucius didn't know whether to account this sudden thought to actual intelligence on Dolohov's part or simply cowardice in not wanting to be hunted down and either killed or apprehended. That's what undoubtedly would happen.

"I'd need Greyback."

_This just gets better and better. Someone likes me today._ If Lucius didn't have almost fifty odd years of hiding his emotions from others under his belt, a small smile would have come to his face. Greyback on the other hand looked positively disgusted.

"No." The voice was so hoarse and broken that everyone, even Lucius himself, looked around before they realised it was Bellatrix. She rose from her seat and turned to face them, the Dark Lord secure in her arms. "Go yourself. Prove your worth. Once more."

The words were slowly spoken, and all together chilling. Everyone else seemed bemused, but Lucius simply inclined his head in acquiescence. So his theory was true. While the Dark Lord was _physically_ just like a newborn, his mind certainly wasn't. Dolohov seemed uncertain, so Lucius took matters into his own hand.

"I don't think you want the Dark Lord to remember your... insubordination when he comes into a new body, do you Dolohov?"

The look on Dolohov's face wasn't one that Lucius would soon forget. Dolohov knew he'd pretty much been condemned to die in order to save the others. And there wasn't a damned thing that he could do about that. He looked between Lucius, Alecto, Greyback and Bellatrix before he nodded his head, and shuffled away from the campsite heading eastwards. Lucius only waited until Dolohov was out of earshot before he looked at the others.

"As soon as we've finished eating, we'll start moving again."

No one questioned him this time.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

It was raining in Prague at the moment, but Harry didn't mind it so much. He'd been carefully combing Europe for the remaining Death Eaters and had put out the word that he was doing so. He'd just flown in from Germany, having spent the past three days talking to wizards in the Black Forest who claimed to have seen his quarry. Before that, he had passed through France in about two days, following their trail. It was fairly late when he arrived, and there were no people milling about in the plaza. He tucked his broom under his robe and looked up into the sky.

Munin alighted on his shoulder a moment later and looked around before squawking loudly and ruffling his feathers against the rain. Harry smiled slightly and darted to the walkway by the wall. He stuck close to it until he passed under the old astronomical clock. There was a momentary shiver as he passed through the invisible barrier, and found the slight doorway. This was one of the lesser used entrances into the wizarding shopping district in Prague, but it was close to the place he needed to go. He paused to take out his broom and shake off some of the rain before he tucked it back under his robe and started walking once more.

This part of the district was fairly empty, and Harry had to look up only once to make sure that he was walking into the right place. The wooden sign swayed slightly in the breeze, the gilt words of, 'Death's Sparrow' peeling slightly. He opened the door and walked in. The interior was still the same as it was when he was here last year. The air was fairly thick with smoke and the light was just barely bright enough. Here and there, blond hair glimmered before disappearing back into the murk.

An acquaintence in Germany had directed him here, saying that some new information had cropped up. And so here Harry was, and he had a pretty good idea who he had to talk to. Except the damned man never sat in the same place or bothered to pay attention here. He probably had his nose buried in a newpaper or some parchment or other. He finally spied the man sitting at a table in the very back, almost nestled into a corner. There was a pint of ale in one hand, and the other hand was flipping through the pages of a newspaper. The face was still grizzled, though the massive russet beard seemed to be streaked more heavily with grey. He came over and sat down, leaning his broom against the opposite wall, easily in sight and out of the way.. A waitress seemed to materialise from thin air. Harry ordered a pint and she melted back into the smoke and murk. Once she was gone, the man glanced up.

"You know," the man spoke slowly. "You could have been killed three times over before you made it to me."

Harry gave a slow smile. "Undoubtedly Bedrich. And how do you know I didn't pay someone to poison that ale of yours?"

Bedrich looked at him with one fuzzy eyebrow arched high. Harry was struck with the impression of a caterpillar trying to make a break for freedom, but that thought was startled by Bedrich bursting out laughing. Munin gave a caw of offended indignity and started preening his feathers.

"Then I'd come back to haunt your sorry arse! By the gods, it's good to see you again! And look at this, the boy's finally got himself a familiar!" Bedrich thumped him on the back, drained the rest of his pint and flipped his newspaper shut. Munin squawkwed when Harry's shoulder shook and he hopped onto the table. Bedrich's face grew sombre though, and he leaned in closer to Harry. "Now, I heard about that business in Poland. I wish I could have been there to help you."

"Yeah, well..." Harry's throat closed up a bit.

The waitress came back with his drink as well as another one for Bedrich. Harry waited until she was gone before he reached in his pocket and dumped in a bezoar chip. The drink fizzled slightly before it settled back down. He levitated out the purple chip and left it on the table. He glanced at Bedrich who looked flabbergasted and hastily checked his drink with his wand. Munin stared at it for a moment before he started pushing it around the table with his beak.

"You truly have a knack for pissing people off. You haven't even been here for five minutes," Bedrich didn't say anything for a moment. "Have you heard from Yuuki yet? I understand she was... there." he finished delicately.

"No, I haven't." Harry forced his throat to work.

"Ah," Bedrich was silent for a moment. "So, I've heard the good news: you finally killed that ugly sonofabitch. Why aren't you back home celebrating instead of prowling through Europe?"

"Only reason why I would be prowling through Europe after supposedly killing him." Harry could feel Bedrich's pale blue eyes boring holes into his head but he didn't say anything more.

"But..." Bedrich sounded so perplexed. "But you're Harry Potter! You always get the job done!"

Harry nodded his head. "Except Voldemort is too clever for his own good. All I know is that the bastard somehow managed to survive."

"Is there some sort of bounty on him?"

"No. At this point, it's not worth it to try and bring him back alive. He'd just be convicted and killed anyways. I had a talk with Kingsley–"

"You got the ear of the new Minister? I'd give my right eye to be as well connected as you." Bedrich grumbled.

"I had a quick chat with him before leaving. And the truth be told, he's willing to look at it as a good thing if Voldemort dies abroad... mysteriously."

Bedrich nodded his head slowly. "I'm assuming that England is a bit dry for the moment?"

"One or two odd things might pop up, but that's pretty much is. But when I was passing through Italy, they seemed to be having some sort of problem. Why do you go have some fun down there?"

"An excellent idea. Now, about why you've come. The information is about a month old, but you might still be able to use it."

"What is it?"

Bedrich took a gulp from his glass before he started speaking. "Some children in Romania found their father ravaged in the woods one night. Apparently he had an illegal still there and was making... oh, what do Muggles call it again... moonshine. Anyway, he was out there checking on it, and something found him. Tore out huge chunks as well. Like something ate parts of him and didn't bother with the rest."

"Are there any wolves in the area?"

Bedrich shook his head. "Not a single one. And, well, you know how Romania deals with their werewolves."

Harry knew all too well. While there had been only a select number of werewolves that preferred to dine on human flesh, most wizarding communities in Europe did all in their power to see those rogue ones exterminated. All the facts were pointing to one of the three that Harry knew were still at large.

"Fenrir Greyback." Harry ground out.

Bedrich nodded his head. "Similar cases were reported in Greece and Russia."

That made Harry pause. "Greece _and_ Russia? What are the dates, do you know?"

"Only a week apart. And it's been recently." Bedrich gave Harry a pointed look.

Harry swore and took a long pull from his pint . This was not good. Either way it meant that the remaining Death Eaters had split into two groups, there was no way a ragtag group of Death Eaters with death sentences on their heads could travel that far with no resources. One of them might be a decoy. Or both might now have human-eating werewolves. This whole damn situation was getting better and better. Bedrich sighed and studied his glass for a moment.

"Look, I know you wanted to take care of Voldemort yourself, but you've now hit the point where you might need reinforcements. I wouldn't take offense if you wanted to call some people from England -"

"So they can bicker with me about what I'm doing and planning to do?" Harry snorted and said, "Forget it" before he took another gulp of ale. He sighed and looked at Bedrich. "Did you want to hold off on going to Italy?"

Bedrich chuckled. "You sure know how to sweet talk a guy. 'How about hunting down a group of renegades with a human-eating werewolf for me, pretty please?' How could I say no to that?"

Harry smiled faintly as Bedrich made a kissy face and batted his eyelashes. "Then you can go tromping off to Italy. When I see you again next, dinner's on me."

"If you insist," Bedrich slapped his large belly and it jiggled beneath his shirt and jacket. "I didn't know you were so eager to part with your gold. Now, which group did you want to follow?"

"I'll check out the story in Russia." Harry said.

Voldemort was a creature of habit. He'd fled to Eastern Europe twice; once after his first defeat and then after his second one. He'd probably done the same again and if he wasn't there, then he had more than likely fled somewhere into Asia. It wouldn't be that much farther for him to go.

"Then I'm off to Greece," Bedrich got a dreamy look in his eyes. "Too bad I won't be able to spend some time with the ladies. I don't care what others say, give me a Greek witch any day of the week."

Harry gave a dry chuckle as Bedrich winked at him conspiratorially. "You mean they'll actually have you?"

Bedrich roared with laughter and tousled Harry's hair. Munin, finally deeming it safe, fluttered back up to Harry's shoulder and settled himself down again. They finished their drinks and left Death's Sparrow, walking down the emptying district streets. When they got to the statute bearing a large plaque with 'Zito' on it, Bedrich stopped. Harry wasted no time mounting up on his broom. True, Harry could have Flooed to Russia, but he needed time to think as well as some peace and quiet. Not the whirling green rush of fireplaces zipping past. And Flooing… well, he'd rather not.

"Hey,"

Harry turned to find Bedrich looking at him. There was an unusually grave expression on his normally cheery face and Harry found himself almost dreading what the man would say next.

"It gets better you know. It's always worse in the beginning."

He caught the glimmer in those pale blue eyes and asked, "Who were they" almost instinctively.

"Her name was Aglaia."

Bedrich didn't offer up anything more and Harry kicked off from the ground gently, hovering a few feet up. "Contact me as soon as you find out." He said quietly.

"Not a problem. And likewise. The sooner this is nipped in the bud, the better." Bedrich grumbled.

Harry nodded, and slowly rose up into the sky. Munin took off from his shoulder and started to fly beside him. Harry glanced down quickly to see Bedrich walking away from the statue of Zito with his head lowered, shoulders slumped and his back hunched. He turned his attention back to the sky, and soared up to cruising altitude. He wanted to believe Bedrich's words and he knew the advice was given in good faith. But what he just saw flew in the face of that.

Bedrich was an amazing Hunter, reliable through thick and thin, but sometimes he was absolutely full of shit.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The past few weeks had not been kind to them. As far as Lucius could tell, they'd been running for about a month, maybe for a little longer. All he knew was that it had taken so much out of him to get them from Romania, through Russia and then into Japan. It didn't help that Greyback decided that snacking on locals was something he couldn't live without. There was only the one incident in Russia, and Lucius had made it quite clear that if Greyback decided that he had to eat one more person, he might not wake up one morning.

There had been no more problems after that, aside from the increasing cold. Autumn was in full progress and it wouldn't be long before the snow started falling.

And Lucius was quite sure that he was slowly and surely losing his sanity. They'd made their way across Russia, mainly in the back of strange vehicles called 'trucks' by Muggles, to a port town on the Pacific. It was a simple matter to cast a Notice-Not spell and even simpler to get everyone aboard a cargo ship and down into the hold. That was when they came across a little bit of luck. Wherever this ship was heading, it was carrying a lot of fruit and vegetables. Every one, including Greyback, ate until they were at the point of bursting. And when the ship put out to sea, Greyback was the only one who was violently ill. The werewolf looked green and pasty, and Lucius sincerely hoped the voyage would kill him. Unfortunately, it seemed that was asking a bit too much from his luck.

When the ship pulled into port Lucius didn't know where they were, but he didn't particularly care. He got them off the boat, into the back of a truck and they were far away from the sea, with night approaching. The truck had been driving for a few hours when there was a bang and then it started weaving from side to side. The truck came to a stop and before Lucius could do anything, there was the clang of the back door opening, and one shocked Asian woman staring at them with bloodshot eyes and a cigarette hanging from her mouth.

Unfortunately Greyback was the first to move, and he attacked the driver. Lucius bit his tongue as the woman's dying screams were literally drowned in blood. They'd managed to come this far without leaving a trail, and he couldn't curse off Greyback's hide for this one. The woman would have been killed anyway. And considering the area they were in, it might just be considered a random animal attack. He ordered everyone off the truck, quickly shrunk the crates of food, piled them in Alecto's arms and looked around. The road was in the middle of nowhere and there was thick forested mountains on either side of them. If they were lucky, they could find a cave or some other place to hole up in for the coming winter. He looked at the spatter of blood, and then at Greyback, who was happily chewing on a strip of esophagus, when he grabbed the corpse by the feet and started dragging it to the side. Greyback started to snarl at him, but then seem to realise what Lucius was doing.

They worked together in tacit agreement, dragging the body from the road, down the hill and through the forest. Bellatrix and Alecto slowly followed them. Considering they were doing this in the pitch black, Lucius was surprised someone didn't trip and break an ankle on the uneven, stony ground. Once they were a good distance into the forest, Lucius dumped the feet and, Greyback had eaten his fill, went back to see if there was anything else potentially useful he could take. All he found was a strange little book of red sticks and a few extra blankets tossed on the other seat. He grabbed them and carefully made his way back to where the others waited. They started walking once more, but in complete silence this time, the sound of Greyback licking his lips every so often a vile reminder.

The house was found quite by accident. They had been walking for almost four nights now, and the sky was beginning to pale with the coming of dawn of the third day when Alecto noticed something through the trees. She didn't wait, but just went crashing through the undergrowth, with everyone else following behind her. Lucius was the one to crash into her when he popped out of the trees. All the shrunken crates in her arms went flying but she didn't notice. Neither did Lucius or anyone else for that matter. In front of them was a derelict old house, and they stared at it as if it were the answer to all their prayers. Greyback was the last one through, muttering something about crazy witches and wizards.

All Lucius had done was look up at the sky, realising they could probably sleep there for the day and then see what they could find in the evening. And if the growing moon was any indication, Greyback was only days away from transforming once more. Before, they would leave him five days behind. Even in werewolf form, he couldn't run fast enough to catch up to them.

At the moment though, everyone was tired and Lucius would figure out the dilemma of Greyback later.

That had all been hours ago, and Lucius had only gotten a few fitful hours of sleep. He'd woken up from the conspicuous sound of silence that came with the twilight. The birds and other animals had gone to sleep for the night, but the noctural creatures had yet to stir. He lay there on the hard floor for a little bit before sitting up and looking around. Everyone else was still asleep, like a light put out with a Nox spell. The house was decidedly dirty and in desperate need of cleaning if it was to be halfway habitable for them. Lucius managed to get up, his stiff joints protesting loudly the entire time. A glance out the window indeed proved something he hadn't quite realised in Russia: it was actually late autumn, and the weather would probably only get colder. While Russia was quite lovely in the summer when winter came, it came quickly with almost no seamless transition. They had some food, but it would probably go bad within a week if something wasn't done about it. Lucius knew precious little about food preservation spells.

Moving slowly, he went to the door and opened it. The cool air made him pull his robes in closer before he stepped outside. A thick fog lay heavy on the ground and with the fading sunlight, making everything seem surreal and oddly isolated at the same time. Lucius fumbled for his wand before he started walking into the forest. Not the best idea to do this at night, but he'd rather take his chances now that stumble across someone in the day. And with the moon almost full, in addition to starlight, there was plenty of visibility in the paused every few trees to make a mark on the trunk with his wand. The last thing he needed was to get himself lost. And if there was any sort of edible creature here, he needed to see about killing one for Greyback and getting it to the house. Anything that kept Greyback from hunting people was more than welcome at this point. The last thing Lucius wanted for some angry mob to go hunting down a wizard-killer. Greyback would undoubtedly lead the mob right to their doorstep in his attempt to escape.

And if he could managed it, he needed to figure out what country they were in. Once winter was over, they'd start moving again. All Lucius could do was hope that Potter didn't find and kill them all with his bare hands any time soon. Quite frankly, Lucius wouldn't blame him if that's what it came down to.

A twig snapped a few feet away and Lucius turned, wand aimed in the direction of the sound. His heart was in his throat and he was sure if he relaxed the death grip he had on his wand, his hand would be shaking badly. Whatever snapped the twig clearly wasn't coming in his direction. He waited a few more minutes before he started walking once more, marking trees as he went.

The hallmarks of fall were becoming more and more visible as he walked. Leaves were orange, red and yellow with an odd green one here and there. Most of the lower lying trees and bushes had brown dead leaves or none at all, while the forest floor was so carpeted with colourful leaves that the sounds of his steps were well muffled. There wasn't anything that could be harvested for food this late. They'd have to hunt something in order to eat through the winter.

Lucius continued to walk, familiarising himself with the landscape. It also helped that the fog was slowly lifting and making visibility better. Unfortunately, it didn't help him much almost thirty minutes later. Of course, night could be partially blamed for that. True he was walking slowly and being careful, but when a foot comes down on nothing and is already pitching forward and their wand slipped from their grasp in surprise, there is very little a person can do besides curse and fall.

Fortunately for Lucius he hadn't fallen off a cliff, as his mind was unhelpfully screaming at him, but rather into a large, deep body of water. He surfaced, coughing up liquid and blinking as he tried to see where his wand was. It was floating just within reach and he grabbed it before swimming back in the direction he fell. He found a sheer wall, and started swimming alongside it, trying to find someplace to get back onto land. He was too tired to even attempt levitating himself back up. He wasn't too sure how high it was, and while he had lost some weight during this flight from England, he still weighed a good amount. Swimming was the simplest and easiest way to get himself out of this mess.

It only took fifteen minutes before he found a shallow beach and waded out, shivering slightly in the chill. He dried his clothes with a quick spell and looked around. It seemed that he had found a lake, which meant they had some source of fresh water now. And where there was fresh water, there were animals. He looked around before he decided to climb up a tree and watch for a bit. Something would be bound to come to the water for a drink. He hoisted himself up, and settled himself on a thick branch and sat, waiting.

His patience was rewarded a mere ten minutes later. A deer came walking out of the woods, warily picked its way down to the beach and drank before it darted back to the safety of the woods once more. Lucius waited a bit to make sure nothing else came after the deer before he slid down from the tree and started to follow the shore line of the lake until he spotted a tree with one of his marks on it. The fog had almost entirely lifted by now and he hurried back to the house. When it finally came back into view, he could hear Alecto's panicked voice. He wasted no time hurrying back inside to see what the big deal was.

They were still in the back room and Lucius remained just inside the wall, out of their potential line of sight. There were no lights, but the damn werewolf would probably spot a cockroach in a pitch black pit. Greyback sounded like he had a sneer on his face while Alecto seemed to have worked herself into a tizzy.

"I don't care what you say Greyback! We need Lucius! He's the only one with a wand, he got us this far and -"

"I think you should shut your trap, quit panting after the poncy bastard and be grateful that there's still someone here to look out for you," Greyback sounded exasperated. "Dolohov was much less of a whiny bitch than you are. Lucius will use you and toss you to the side when he's done."

There was a choked sound of outrage from Alecto and Lucius decided that now would be a good time to step in lest Alecto decided that she'd like to try and kill Greyback bare-handedly. He didn't say anything, just simply walked into the room, looking between Alecto and Greyback's shadowy figures. Alecto looked relieved to see him, Bellatrix was sitting in a corner now, feeding oddly shaped pieces of fruit to Voldemort. Greyback looked angry, as if his entire reason behind the argument had evaporated away when Lucius walked into a room. And if Greyback's accusation were correct, Alecto was on his side, probably from the simple fact that he was a Malfoy and offered her best chance at a pardon. If she were his wife, and he was pardoned as well.

"I don't think loud conversation is the best thing to do in the evening when we're clearly in an abandoned house."

"Where did you go?" Alecto demanded, hands on her hips.

Lucius arched an eyebrow at her. She'd never spoken so familiarly with him before. "I found a lake, so if we are inclined to actually eat some meat and possibly fish, we can. Not to mention the fact that someone needed to see where we are exactly."

"What do you mean meat?" That definitely caught Greyback's attention. "And where are we exactly?"

"There're animals here. I just saw a deer there. So you don't need to go prowling for your... other prey." Lucius stated delicately.

Greyback looked a bit mollified and Lucius felt a little bit of anxiety lift. Now he wouldn't have to worry about Greyback seeking out people to eat. If there were enough deer here, it should be enough to get Greyback through his transformations.

"You still haven't answered my second question." Greyback said pointedly.

"We're in the middle of a forest. I don't know where, but judging from the state of the house we're probably a good distance from the nearest town. Probably more than a day away."

He slid a look at Greyback, but for once the werewolf didn't call him on it. All Greyback did was give a momentary sneer and amble from the room. Lucius would take it as a sign that the impulsive idiot was deferring to his leadership for the time being. He looked back at Alecto who was standing by the window now, and was oddly silent. As much as he was loathe to lead someone on, especially in a situation like this, it was a numbers game pure and simple. If Alecto sided with Greyback against him for whatever reason, it placed his life in jeopardy. And he would be damned in hell before he let that come about.

Lucius walked over and, unsure of what to do exactly, placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Alecto, I thank you."

Her head jerked up and she looked at him warily. So, Greyback's words had sunk in a bit. "For?"

"For your faith in me." Lucius squeezed her shoulder slightly and was rewarded a moment later when the wary light in her eyes vanished away.

"You've brought us this far. I believe you can take us the rest of the way," Alecto paused. "You're the only one I trust to restore the Dark Lord to us completely."

Alecto gripped his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it tightly in return. There was a detached part of Lucius mind that found a dark sort of amusement in this whole thing. Of all the times Alecto _should_ have listened to Greyback, this was it and she didn't. And it would result in all of their deaths, if Lucius had any say in the matter at all.

It was borderline sardonic, ironic even, and Lucius seriously thought that this might amount to the last bit of amusement he would ever have in his life.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry was still bone tired. Despite having slept like the dead after arriving in Japan and finding an inn room, he still felt like he could sleep for another day or so. Of course, flying for what had to be ten hours straight could do that to a person. Harry knew he could just as easily have Flooed into the country, but Flooing wasn't something he could do so easily any more. He could only bring himself to Floo in extreme circumstances now.

When Voldemort had managed his brief political coup, the first thing he had done was to pluck dissenters, current and potential, right from the Floo Network. For months there were constant reports of people who stepped into their fireplaces to go to work or visit a loved one and were never seen or heard from again. Harry had been wary then and avoided Flooing like it was the dragon pox. And then one day he'd been forced to Floo from The Three Broomsticks with Cho. They hadn't found themselves at The Leaky Cauldron as expected, but in a dank smelly room with Dolores Umbridge and Rodolphus Lestrange.

He and Cho managed to escape, but Harry hadn't used the Floo Network since. He'd rather deal with a herd of clutching Ukrainian Ironbellies who had their eggs stolen.

When he arrived, he'd found some ramshackle inn just outside the red light district in wizarding Tokyo. Now that he looked at it, he could have chosen better. The room still looked dirty and there were some questionable stains on the ceiling. Better he not think about it before he started to wonder what they really were. Or what sort of condition his futon was like under the linens. He'd sent Munin off with a message for his contact here. That had been a few hours ago, after another bird had returned with a message from Bedrich. Harry had been too tired to read it then. But now, if he could remember where the hell he had put it, he'd read it and see if he was headed in the wrong direction or not. He finally found it, crumpled at the bottom of his pants pocket. He pulled it out, watching as the enchanted paper smoothed itself out. With a snort he broke the seal and started reading.  
_  
__'Harry,  
_

_You're on the right track. The one I followed was a false trail. Turns out it was some Death Eater (that is what you English fellows have been calling them, right?) by the name of Anoton Dolohov. I'd imagine you're familiar with him, as the vicious little asshole was certainly acquainted with yours. Spent some time cursing it before I temporarily shut him up.  
_

_It took some doing but I managed to get him to talk. You knows I can be a very persuasive guy... when I need to be. Apparently there're only four more of them. Two women, Alecto Carrow (is it really true that she ended up killing her brother?) and Bellatrix Lestrange, the werewolf-Fenrir Greyback, as you correctly deduced before-and the exiled aristocrat, Lucius Malfoy.  
_

_And since I'm such an ever helpful guy,. I manged to dig up some more information about this charming bunch since they disappeared. According to Dolohov, it's been lean and mean for them. When he split from them in Romanina, they were slowly starving to death. I'd like to think that they died somewhere in the Romanian forests or in the middle of Russia, hungry and frozen to death, but if what I saw from Dolohov is a samole, then the fuckers are still alice somewhere.  
_

_My gut feeling is that they're in Japan somewhere. You know how weird that place is with its archaic laws that don't fit into the back end of nowhere. Not to mention the multitide of national reserve parks that make the island look so small to Muggles because so much is Unplottable. Or half the houses that had to be abandoned because of those those park lines. Unless you know someone working for the Reserve Division of the JMM, you'll be looking for a needle in a haystack.  
_

_Unfortunately, Dolohov won't be meeting his friends anytime soon. The idiot managed to escape and went and got himself stung by a manticore. If I can still claim the reward, I'll make sure some Galleons make their way to yourpocket._

_Be on your guard when you're getting close to the end of the trail. It sounds like this Lucius Malfoy has become the brains of the operation and there's nothing quite as desperate as an aristorat with nothing left to lose and everything to gain. But then again, he's been in that position since Narcissa and Draco. Be wary of him: men like that aren't past doing anything to anyone to see whatevers ends they have met._

_If you need an extra hand, just say the word and I'll get to wherever the hell you are as soon possible. If it turns out that you do end up in Japan, say hi to Yuuki for me._

_Bedrich'_

Harry stared at the letter for a moment before he folded it back up and put it in his pocket. All the things Bedrich said were far too true. It was a damned needle in a haystack, and he wasn't looking forward to it that much. He had to get his foot in the door somehow and narrow down his search. But with so much of island designated as Unplottable... Sighing, he got up from the bed, put it away in the closet and left his room. A short look around downstairs yielded a bar with a few patrons spread down its length. Harry seated himself at it, waiting for the bartender. He was nursing his second drink when a sharp caw came from the doorway, followed the the flutter of wings and small feet on his shoulder. He didn't turn and a moment later a slightly plump figure sat down beside him. He glanced over, recognising the black hair and rounded forearms. She ordered something when the bartender came back around. Harry knew she was just waiting to rip into him, not that he didn't deserve it. He waited until she had a few sips before he spoke.

"Hello Yuuki."

He glanced over and found himself being glared at. Though in truth, the look on Yuuki's face said that she wished he would spontaneously combust into flames. When she spoke, her voice was deceptively soft.

"You're a goddamn prick, you know that?" she swore under her breath some more to herself before she continued. "Four years of hearing every conceivable story of you trying to kill yourself, and damned near succeeding a few times, and _now_ you come slinking on over here after it's all been said and done to see me? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hex you to within an inch of your life and leave you here to die like a pustulant little sac of shit?"

Well, if Yuuki's potty mouth was any indication, she was still mad at him. He wasn't too sure what to say, but the outright truth seemed to be the best idea. "He's still alive, and he's here in Japan."

He took a sip of his drink and turned to face Yuuki. She was staring at him now, disbelief written all over her face. Finally she shook her head, finished off her drink and shook her head.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going back to my place and drink some more. And you're going to fill me in on everything. And I mean _everything_, got it? Because last I heard you did in that monster."

Harry downed the rest of his drink before replying, "Loud and clear."

___________________________________________________________________________________________

"Well shit,"

Harry watched as Yuuki shook her head again while contemplating the bottom of her glass. They made a stop to get some take away and liquor before heading back to Yuuki's place, And, true to word, Yuuki had grilled him on everything that had happened since that night in Poland almost six years ago. How the war went from being out into the open to a hidden guerilla-style one that claimed far too many lives. He went into great detail about that. He didn't, though, about all the casualties. Yuuki didn't press about it. Harry felt as though he talked for ages but the clock only said it was three in the morning. Considering she'd shown up at the inn close to ten at night, Harry assumed the alcohol might have had something to do with that. He'd just finished telling her about how he killed Voldemort. Supposedly now, since the guy was still alive. Severus' message from Lucius drifted into his mind now, though it still made precious little sense.

"That last bit just pushed you over the edge, didn't it?"

"What?" Harry's brow furrowed at Yuuki's words.

"You think you've killed the monster responsible for... for what happened to your friends, your family, your loved ones and three weeks later you find out the sonofabitch is still alive? Well, by this point, close to two months but that's rather irrelevant. No wonder you look like death warmed over. You've been going non-stop since you've found out, haven't you?"

There was no way to deny that but he wasn't about to admit that. "And who else should do it?"

Yuuki raised an eyebrow at him in a manner that smacked of Snape, and Harry felt a totally irrational surge of anger. He reached for the box with the last of the shrimp tempura and ate it in quick bites. When he looked back up, Yuuki was still watching him, but the eyebrow had descended.

"Who else should do it? Oh, I don't know, how about anybody else in the Order. Did that occur to you?"

"They still have someone to go back to," Harry muttered as he reached for his cup of sake. "Me, I've got nothing."

"And that makes your life worth any less than theirs?"

"I don't need this shit from -" Harry began.

"I think you fucking do, so sit the fuck there and listen to what I've got to say!"

That had to be the first time Yuuki had ever snarled at him. He glared at her and rose to leave. She got to her feet and shoved him back down into his seat.

"Everyone else might cede to your wishes because you're the great and mighty Harry Potter, but not me got it? You let Voldemort take _everything_ from you, and if you keep on like this, you'll kill him all right at the expense of your goddamn humanity. You don't have to be made of rock you know. You're human: you bleed and you ache like anyone else. I'm tired of seeing this macho bullshit from you. Yes, I know, it's inconceivable what that maniacal self-righteous hypocritical asshole has done and trying to make sense of it all is too damn much. But I will be damned if I let you become some cold, unfeeling person because you don't want to deal with it anymore. I didn't say anything before and I kicked myself for the past three years for not saying anything. But I'm damned well saying something now."

Given how tightly he was holding his cup, Harry was pretty sure if he even twitched an arm muscle,the ceramic would shatter. Yuuki glared at him for a moment longer before she snatched a box and stuffed some dumplings in her mouth, chewing angrily. Harry mentally swore to himself and finished his drink. He hated it when everyone else was right. When he went to see Hermione almost two and a half months ago it had crept out then. He'd managed to stuff back and ignore it. He couldn't let it out but he didn't know if he ever could. It still felt like a swirling maelstrom that would suck him down to the very bottom of its memories of misery and anguish and leave him there to slowly rot away.

To be trapped in memories and be less than himself... It was fate worse than death in his opinion. And that he couldn't allow. Ever.

"Look, I just came off as a total bitch there, but I think it's the truth. How do you think..." Yuuki paused and took a deep breath before she spoke. "How do you think Hermione and Ron would feel about you acting this way?"

Harry knew it was coming, he _knew_ it, yet it still had the effect of making him feel like he'd been trampled over by a herd of dragons. He simply poured himself some more sake and gulped it down.

"At this point, it's not about what they would think. It's about what needs to be done," Harry stared at the bottom of his empty cup for a moment before he reached for the last box of something. It turned out it was the last of the dumplings and he ate them slowly.

Yuuki watched him for a long moment but didn't say what Harry thought she would say. "So, you last heard that the Death Eaters were in Russia?"

"Yes. And that means that means that they arrived somewhere on the eastern coast of Japan. I think they're stowing away on Muggle ships. It's the only way I can think that they'd get this far without being caught."

"You're probably right. That means they either landed in Fukuoka or in Sapporo. It's a big shipping city on that side of the island," Yuuki paused. "And it's mountainous."

"How mountainous?"

"Very. I think there're four to six national wizarding parks in the area. Two of them are home to some dangerous species, the others are just fine."

"Great." Harry frowned. "Do you know anyone in the Reserve Division?"

Yuuki paused at that. "He's... more of an acquaintance really."

"Do you think he'd help if he could?"

"Possibly," Yuuki seemed far too reluctant with volunteering the information. "I can send him and owl and see if I can arrange an meeting with him."

"Good," Harry paused. "Because the sooner this is over with, the better for all of us."

"Hear, hear." Yuuki said as she raised her cup up in salute.

_______________________________________________________________________________

The chirp of birds woke him initially, but Lucius also had the feeling that something was wrong. He remained as still as possible, his free hand going for his hidden wand just within reach. A slight breeze came in through the window and dispelled the notion that it might be Alecto. The last time Lucius checked, she didn't smell like rotted meat. As if to simply verify this, a slight creak came from the floor a few feet behind him.

"You may want to think twice about whatever it is you're about to do Greyback." Lucius spoke so he could just barely be heard.

There was a pronounced silence and then the soft shuffling of feet retreating. Once they were on the other side of the room, Lucius felt a mental flush of relief. Greyback was starting to become a serious problem and would have to be dealt with promptly. The full moon had just past and Grey had only come back to them last night. While it was foolhardy for the werewolf to try something in such an exhausted state, it only left Lucius with thirty or so days to figure out how to make it look like Greyback suffered a fatal accident. If he even bothered to go that route. While outright murder wasn't the best idea, it was the most appealing due to its simplicity.

He lay there for a bit longer before rising and shaking out his cloak and letting it fall around him. Today he needed to venture out as far as possible, or maybe attempt a blind apparition to somewhere. Not the best of options, but the weather was steadily getting colder and their cloaks would only keep them so warm for so much longer. he walked over to the crates of dried, preserved fruits. He wouldn't have thought Alecto knew some of these spells, but she had directed him and most of the fruit they had nicked from the truck was and would probably get them through most of the winter. He walked over and took a leathery apple. He tore a bite off and chewed thoughtfully for a moment before he crouched down by the bucket of drinking water. The bucket had been transfigured from an old, sturdy window shutter. He scooped up a few handfuls before wiping his hand off on his cloak.

"What are you doing today?" Greyback appeared in the doorway, looking sullen as if angered by being thwarted.

"Going out. Seeing if I can find anything of use from a town nearby."

"Good luck with that."

Lucius watched as Greyback limped back to his spot and painfully managed to lay himself back down. From the look of things, Greyback had managed to injure his leg, and quite seriously too. The werewolf wouldn't be going too far today. Lucius lay there for a few more moments before he rose. It didn't take him long to shake the dirt from his cloak and robes and leave the house. It took a moment to decided on the direction but he finally set of in a westwards direction, marking trees as he went. He had to admit, while he was glad to still be alive, that damned house felt patently wretched. Alecto either mooned after him or became introverted for long periods of time, where she didn't talk to anyone or eat much of anything.

Greyback... was a problem as always. '_Though that injured leg will probably help._' Killing Greyback wouldn't be the easiest thing to accomplish and he would have to be oh so very careful that the damned cur didn't take him out as well. This might be his only opportunity to catch Greyback at less than his homicidally best and get rid of the flea-ridden nuisance. All that left were the questions of how and when.

He focused his attention back as the undergrowth became thicker, but there didn't seem to be any reason why.. He continued to push through, cursing every so often as his clothes snagged on branches and his limbs and faces were whipped by thin, dry branches. It became more and more difficult and when he finally popped through, his head suddenly had a sore spot.

"Merlin damn it all to hell." Lucius swore as he looked around for the cause.

He spotted it a few seconds later, a clump of his hair caught on a branch and swaying forlornly in the slight breeze. Snarling to himself, he grabbed the length of his filthy hair and knotted it back. He'd have to see about cutting it at some point or another: it would only become a liability in the long run.. He continued walking through, finding the undergrowth thinning out slowly. It wasn't much longer before he came across an old path. It was slightly overgrown, and actually a road by the look of it. There must be an old town around here somewhere. And it might have been abandoned if the path was any indication. The spells that were cast to preserve the road were probably degrading, which explained why the undergrowth was so murderously thick back there. He glanced up, and was surprised to see that the sun was nearly at its apex. He'd been walking for about two or even three hours.

The town couldn't be too faraway now. At least Lucius hoped the town was abandoned. If it was populated and Greyback had decided to snack on locals, he was probably dead the moment he stepped foot into town. He looked either way, unsure of which direction to go in. After a moment of thought, he turned right and started heading eastward. The road seemed to take him nowhere, but he kept an eye on the sun now. After about almost two hours of walking, and mostly uphill to boot, the roof of a home peeked over the top of the hill. Lucius went back into the forest, and approached it, honestly fearing the worst. But as he approached, a few things became evident.

This was the end of the road, and there was no town in this direction. The house also looked abandoned, but Lucius wasn't taking the chance. He drew his wand as he slowly walked closer through the trees. From here, he could see that the door had been boarded shut but something had pried it open a bit. The windows were boarded up as well, which meant that if something was inside, then he would have very low light and might not be able to see what it was. Conversely, there might be something of actual use in the house, and that was a chance that was too good for him to pass up.

He slowly left the tree line and approached the house, looking for the first sign of trouble. When he got to the door, he quickly pried a few more boards apart and slipped inside. As soon as he was inside, the distinct scent of age, disuse and a distinctive animal musk lay on the air. This just got better and better. He was probably heading into a den of some bloodthirsty creature that would kill him as soon as look at him. There were faint streams of light coming in from the spaces between the boards, casting everything in shadows. Nothing about this place said to linger. It more of a sullen message to get away from it and never come back.

But still they needed something, anything, to get them through the winter.

Taking a deep breath, and keeping a firm grip on his wand, he started walking inside the house. The only up side was that someone had cast decent preservation spells on the house, since the floor was dust free and the floor still looked like new. He carefully went through the bottom level, keeping an eye out for animals, and found nothing. When he went up the stairs, the light improved a little bit and he looked around. It looked just the same as downstairs, but there was something about this level that set him on edge. He slowly walked forward, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. But as he slowly walked and checked the rooms, nothing happened.

It was only when he was checking the last room that he found something. Tucked away in a closet was something that looked like a sleeping pad with some blankets neatly folded. He looked around once more, suspicion warring with the urge to just grab it and run. Why was this closet the only one that had something like this? Had someone planted it here for some other reason?

"I can't afford to be asking questions." Lucius mumbled to himself.

He quickly tapped them with his wand, muttering the charm. They obligingly shrunk and Lucius tucked them into his inner robe pocket. He was just closing the door when he heard something skitter behind him in the hallway. He turned quickly, feeling ridiculous for being so spooked. There was nothing there, but the light through the window caught the tracks of something that had scraped against the floor. Honestly, Lucius didn't want to stick around to find out what made them. He carefully made his way back outside to the tree line.

And that's when he noticed the pale yellow flowers stubbornly blooming despite the cold. He paused for a minute, frowning. There was a good chance that he hadn't noticed it before since he was so focused on the house. And on a complete impulse, he cut a few sprigs of it went back and knelt to place them at the foot of the door. He went from feeling mildly ridiculous to just plain stupid. It was just a house and there was nothing in there that he needed to appease.

'_Better safe than sorry_,' a little voice inside his head chimed. '_How else have you gotten this far?_'

Lucius couldn't deny that. He'd made it this far from prudence, gut instinct and not taking any unnecessary chances. if he hadn't known any better, he would have said that he was being completely guided by his instinct alone.

'_Don't be ridicluous. You may be slowly starving to death and have Potter wring your neck with his bare hands when he finds you, but you are not a stupid man by any means,_'

No, he wasn't. But as he was basically having a conversation with himself, his sanity could be called into question.

'_Ah, now that is the right thing to wonder you twit. Once Voldemort is dead..._'

There was no goal after that. He could always worry about that when the time came. Mainly because he wouldn't have to worry for very long about it. Everything he did now was towards the slow attainment of that goal.

'_It certainly doesn't matter if Potter elects to kill you in some painfully messy way,_' Lucius couldn't recall when he'd been so sarcastic... with himself. '_Disembowelment is a method you'd like to avoid._'

Yes, Lucius was sure that he had definitely cracked now. But at least he was a good conversationalist, even if the subject matter left something to be desired. He rose slowly, dusted his knees and headed back towards the ramshackle house. He was rather hoping Potter showed up sooner rather than later.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Harry knew all about awkward silences. Before when he was in Hogwarts, he'd created his fair share of them. And afterwards, he'd seen enough of them to know you didn't get involved if you weren't a part of it. Yuuki had heard back from her acquaintance fairly quickly and they had an appointment set up as soon as possible. And so here they were. What Harry wasn't expecting were the quick looks they were giving one another or the half started sentences.

It had been amusing for a grand total of five minutes. It was irritating as hell now. He'd never seen Yuuki act like this before and it was, in all honesty, more horrifying than some of the things he had seen in the war. It also didn't help that she seemed to be growning more frustrated by the minute. It seemed that he would have to get this started. He glanced at the name plate on the desk before he cleared his throat.

"Mr Yamakawa, thank you for agreeing to see us."

"It seemed quite urgent Mr..."

"Call me Harry. And it is. We have a small problem and it requires some explanation first. Have you been following the events in England?"

"I have," the man regarded him for a moment. "You can call me Kazuo."

Harry didn't even muster a smile. "Kazuo. Then you know about Voldemort's defeat."

Kazuo's brows furrowed. "According to the news reports, he was killed. By you correct?"

Well, at least the man had a brain and could put two and two together quickly. "Or so I thought at the time. The truth of the matter is Voldemort has survived and I have managed to follow him here. I lost the trail in Fukuoka, after they disembarked off a muggle ship. After conferring with Yuuki, we have reason to believe that they're hiding in one of the national reserve parks in the area."

All Kazuo had done was raise both his eyebrows. "This far south? Well, it's entirely possible they might have gotten here by truck. We find that people migrating here illegally take Muggle ships and then disappear once they dock. If they came from Russia as you suspect, then you need to consider the possibility that they may have landed in Hokkaido."

"Hokkaido? Do ships frequently stop there?" Harry mused.

"They do. Sapporo is a major stop," Kazuo nodded his head. "They drop off cargo, refuel and then continue on to Fukuoka or China or Korea."

"They might be there, or in Fukuoka. But I'm willing to bet they jumped ship at the first chance they got." Harry paused. "Would it be possible to see if anyone got report of strange occurrences in the past month?"

Kazuo frowned for a moment. "It can take up to a week. Maybe less as this is the start of winter season. Our workload drops considerably. I'll put in the information request and send it to the Hokkaido branch office, see what comes up. But what you allege... this quite serious. If I may ask, if you know, what is your government's current stance on Voldemort?"

"He died in England. So if he actually dies abroad, they are more than willing to look the other way."

"I see," Kazuo frowned. "Then I shall need to inform the Ministry and appraise them of the situtation. Now for the next thing: do you realise how many parks are in the Hokkaido region alone?"

"Four to six?" Yuuki finally spoke.

"No," Kazuo shook his head. "Eight. In Fukuoka, it's ten. And most of them have houses that had to be abandoned when the park lines were drawn. The average number of abandoned houses is around sixteen per park. And most of those houses are finally falling into disrepair. The preservation spells on them lasted for almost three hundred years."

"The houses haven't been used since the eighteenth century?" Harry was mildly surprised by this.

"Exactly. And I'm assuming that your quarry doesn't want to be found, and that potentially complicates matters even more. Winter is here and the snows have just started to fall in Hokkaido. Fukuoka won't be seeing snow for another two, or even three, weeks. We are expecting the first big snowstorm around the middle of November."

Yuuki frowned before she demanded, "Can you think of any place we can start looking?"

Kazuo gave her a sharp look. "You assume that I am going to let you go search through the parks without any supervision. At least eight of the parks have animals classified as what you would call life-threatening. They may be hibernating for the winter, but they are still dangerous. When you are escorted out it will be with no less than two others with you."

"Agreed," Harry said. Yuuki looked like she was ready to totally contradict Kazuo, and Harry wasn't ready to sit through another stilted round of who would speak first.

Kazuo seemed placated and turned his attention to Harry. "As soon as I have information, I will personally let you know. Now, the only problem I anticipate we will encounter will be in Hokkaido. There was a yuki-onna there last winter and she managed to get two Muggle campers who got lost. Other than that, everything dangerous is hibernating throughout the winter. That is our one saving grace."

Yuuki seemed pissy now and elected to not join in the conversation. Harry mentally sighed, feeling as if his head was about ready to explode. For the whole spiel Yuuki gave him the night, well morning in all actuality, before she seemed to be doing a good job on the acting childish front. Harry focused his attention on Kazuo, managing to narrow down their search parameters. Even if they were convicts on the run, Voldemort and his cronies would still need some basics to ride out the winter: food, shelter, fresh water. Just locating the homes close to fresh water sources had cut the number of abandoned homes in half. So when Harry and Yuuki left almost two hours later, Harry felt mildly accomplished. They were walking down the hallway when Yuuki turned to look at him.

"Spit it out." She snapped.

Harry gave her a look. "Okay, I'll bite and play this game. What happened between the two of you, and try to remember that I had nothing to do with it. So attempting to emasculate me won't go very well for you."

That seemed to take the wind out of Yuuki's sail, but she gave him a look that would have curdled milk. "I don't want to go into it."

"No, you don't want to go into it because I won't be your punching bag. In case you didn't notice back there, we are going to have to work with the man. He doesn't have to help us out personally, but I think he will because it means Voldemort is out of the parks sooner. So whatever issue you have with him, you'd better damned well fucking deal with it because we don't have time for this bullshit. And yes, I said we," Harry ploughed on as Yuuki opened her mouth. "You crammed help down my throat once. I didn't like it much, but I accept it all the same. You can at least do the same, so suck it up."

"How's the air up there on your high and mighty hypocrisy horse?" Yuuki spat.

"Don't you dare start that shit with me! That's just the pot calling the kettle black."

Harry glared at her for a long moment before he started walking once more. After a few moments, he heard Yuuki swear to herself and then jog to catch up to him. Cold air seemed to burn his cheeks as they stepped outside, their breath leaving their bodies in visible clouds. Both he and Yuuki hunched into their coats, not saying anything as they started down the street. It was only a few minutes later, when the street was empty of pedestrians, that Yuuki spoke with a sullen tone in her voice.

"We had an affair."

"Okay."

"Well, more like a thing. It was just sex."

Harry just nodded his head. Maybe if he kept fairly quiet Yuuki would volunteer the rest of the reason why she was so... skittish around Kazuo. There was another long stretch of silence before Yuuki spoke again.

"I ended it."

"Okay."

"He wanted more than I could give him."

Things suddenly made sense. Given that Yuuki didn't really form friendships all that easily and her general avoidance of commitment, it meant that Kazuo had asked for only one thing...

"A relationship."

Yuuki was silent for a bit once more. "Relationships don't work for people in our line of work, you know that. Too many risks. Liabilities. Pitfalls."

Harry just nodded his head. It was true. But if there was anyone who would benefit from a relationship with someone, it was Yuuki. Plus Kazuo seemed like the sort of guy who was reliable through thick and thin. And given his stature, Harry thought Yuuki might have been making excuses. The man was just over six feet and brawny to boot. But when Harry looked at Yuuki, she was glaring at him, daring him to voice his thoughts.

"Hm. Well, I think we've drawn enough blood from one another, don't you?" Harry paused for a moment. "How about we go get something to eat and see if we can find any leads down in Fukuoka?"

Yuuki gave a momentary grin. "Good plan."

_______________________________________________________________________________

The past week hadn't been good. While they had plenty of fresh water, they were running low on food. The crates from the back of the truck were almost gone and rationing them out was producing more hunger. At the most, they probably had enough to get through the next month. When mid December came around, they would have to find something else to eat or starve to death. It also didn't help that Greyback was becoming a serious problem and a liability. The werewolf was disappearing for days on end, and Lucius was sure it had nothing to do with his imminent transformation. His leg was still limp and Greyback had suddenly become secretive.

Lucius suspected that Greyback had followed him when he went on excursions to try to see if there was a town nearby. His suspicions hadn't been confirmed until midweek when the first snows fell. He'd seen a second set of tracks following his when he'd doubled back. One footstep was perfectly fine, while the other one left a long, ugly drag.

Greyback, without a doubt.

But this time, it seemed that he was heading due north. Lucius felt his stomach clench with worry. Greyback spent time following him and now he was striking out on his own? And he was heading somewhere with clear and deliberate intent? That only meant one thing: the damned werewolf had located a town and was getting himself a snack. Swearing to himself he started following the tracks, moving as fast as he could. The sooner he caught up to the werewolf, the sooner this problem would be over with.

There were a few times when Lucius could have sworn he lost the trail, but he always found it a few feet away. It seemed that Greyback had taken to swinging himself a few feet in order to throw off Lucius. And Lucius had to admit that it was highly effective. It slowed him down for a minute or so while he hunted for the footprints once more. Once he found the prints starting again almost thirty feet away, now angling northwest. Lucius was surprised that Greyback even had the strength to swing from tree branches for thirty feet.

But he pressed on, and it wasn't until late afternoon that he saw the angled roofs of houses. Greyback's footsteps now headed west again, following the curve of the town. Lucius was trying his very best to not swear now. The town seemed to be a decent size and he might not find Greyback until it was too late. He continued following Greyback's footprints, thinking furiously. Greyback was starving. He would want prey that was easy to snatch, couldn't defend themselves and easy to subdue.

_'This should be obvious: he'll either snatch a very small woman or a child.'_

This wasn't getting any better the longer Lucius thought about it. Greyback would probably opt to snatch a child: easier to control, lighter to carry compared to a woman and... and Lucius couldn't believe he was listing the reasons. To himself. So what he needed to find now was a playground close to the woods. He didn't find what he was looking for until he'd nearly circled the town once. It was obviously a wizarding town, gathering from the people he caught glimpses of, walking around in robes and chatting easily with the people they ran into. The park was empty except for one child, who was sitting on a swing, rolling a long branch between their hands. Twilight was coming and Lucius settled down behind a tree, waiting. Greyback would wait until night had crept into the sky a bit and use that cover to grab and go before finding a safe place to... eat. It made Lucius' stomach churn thinking about it, but he gritted his teeth and pushed it from his mind.

What he could use was a bath. He could feel the layers of grime on his skin and it was just as nauseating as thinking about Greyback's dining choices. He scooped up a heaping handful of snow before taking a deep breath and rubbing it briskly over his face and hands. Pulling out his wand, he aimed it at his face and closed his eyes.

"Evanesco."

Almost immediately, his face lost that caked-on, grimy feel. He looked down at the ground and was repulsed to see a grey-brown pile of dirt just sitting on top of the snow. Lip curled in disgust, he did the same thing to his hands, neck and hair as well. The pile of dirt grew and once he was done, Lucius piled more snow on top of that. As soon as he got back, everyone was getting cleaned. Alecto was the one in most desperate need of-

The crackle of a branch made him pause and peer around the tree trunk. The child was now snapping the branch into progressively smaller pieces. The sun was just below the horizon and the stars were starting to come out. The shadows seemed to be steadily creeping towards the swings. Greyback would move soon.

It didn't happen until five minutes later when an angry voice called out, "Hanaki!"

The child didn't move until they finished snapping the branch completely. They got up from the swing slowly, as if unwilling to get up and go back home. They only made it a few steps from the swing set before Greyback struck. There was a blur of motion from the trees to Lucius' left and he didn't wait. Lucius could see the desperation and huger etched onto Greyback's face, spurring him on. Lucius put more effort into his sprint before flinging himself forward a few seconds later, aiming for Greyback's legs. Greyback went down in a flurry of arms, swearing profusely. Lucius yanked on a foot, but Greyback managed to turn around and give Lucius a powerful kick to the shoulder with his good foot. It knocked his grip loose and Greyback started running towards the child once more. Almost scrambling, Lucius drew his wand and aimed it at Greyback's good ankle, while the werewolf closed in on the child.

"Perseco."

The vivid blue light hit the ankle directly and Greyback dropped face first to the ground. Hard. His howl of frustration was muffled by the snow and dirt. Lucius breathed a sigh of relief. If that howl had been any louder, people would have come running. He darted over to Greyback and straddled his hips, pinning him in place. There was a gash above his left eye, and blood was pouring down his face. Greyback started clawing at Lucius' arms and then face, a feral, bloody grimace on his lips. His ragged fingernails tore through Lucius' robe and then skin. Lucius felt a snarl coming to his face as he saw his blood coating Greyback's fingertips. He jammed the wandtip against Greyback's jugular, starting to say the spell again.

He didn't get to finish it.

Greyback bared his teeth and growled while he smacked the wand away with a hand. He heaved his hips, throwing Lucius up and off. Lucius lunged forward, yanking on his ankle and then flinging his body on top of Greyback's. When he chanced to glance around, he saw the child still standing there, staring at them in shock.

"Run!" Lucius barked. "Go!"

_'That seemed to galvanise the little idiot.'_ The kid finally moved, running as fast as he could, and Lucius completely focused to the task at hand now.

"I will not let you kill me Lucius Malfoy," Greyback snarled, bloody saliva running freely from his mouth. "You cheated me out of a meal. I think you owe me one."

A hand reached up and back, managing to find Lucius' hair and pull savagely. Tears sprang to Lucius' eyes, momentarily blinding him. In the amount of time it took him to rapidly blink them away, Greyback had managed to flip Lucius over and wrap his hands around his throat. Lucius could feel the blood-slick, ragged nails digging in as Greyback slowly choked the life from him.

"I'll strip your flesh from your bones with my teeth," Greyback grinned, lips open and wide to show his sharpened teeth. "And maybe then I'll take them back to Voldemort along with your wand. Prove you for the traitor you are."

Lucius opened his mouth and took a deep rattling breath before taking the heel of his palm and driving it right up against Greyback's nose from below. There was a momentary resistance and then the bone gave way under the force from his the heel of his hand. Greyback's head snapped back, blood trickling down from his nostrils. Greyback's hands loosened slightly and Lucius quickly took a deep, ragged breath, filling his starved lungs. Then there came the sound of running feet and a voice yelling something.

"Stop!"

Something hit Greyback and Lucius felt the reverberation. Greyback seemed distracted by something and Lucius seized his chance. He quickly raised his upper body, got one hand under Greyback's jaw and the other on the back of Greyback's head and twisted sharply. There was a soft crunching sound of the spine snapping and Greyback flopped backwards. Lucius quickly rolled Greyback off of him and looked down. There was along handle sticking out from underneath Greyback and once Lucius pulled it out, he saw what had distracted Greyback sufficiently enough. An axe.

_'Yes, taking an axe to the back can have a detrimental effect on werewolves. I'm surprised this idiot came back.'_ Lucius sighed heavily, looking at the child. He supposed an Oblivate charm should be done. But honestly, by the time the child got home and probably related this whole thing Lucius planned to have this playground looking like nothing happened to it. After a moment, he frowned, noticing that the child didn't have on a robe or anything remotely warm. And their face was slightly smudged with dirt. The child looked at him hesitantly before turning to leave. Lucius looked at the axe in his hand and quickly summoned his wand over, cleaning the blood off it.

"Wait."

The child turned and looked back at him before seeing the axe in his hand. He held it out and the child took it with a curt nod. Lucius paused for a moment before he took off his own robe and settled it on the child's shoulder.

"Keep warm."

The child blinked in surprise but clutched the robe closer around them. "Thank you."

_'Well this was an entirely surreal experience. And who knew Japanese kids spoke English.'_ Lucius glanced back at Greyback's body, staring at the neck and the impossible angle it had been twisted to. Given he needed time to dispose of Greyback's body he would probably wouldn't be back until tomorrow evening at the least.

Greyback had gone to all this trouble of finding a town. Lucius would be an idiot to not capitalise on that.

_'Hear, hear. Find some decent food. As well as some soap.'_

While Lucius was sure he was going crazy, the voice of his insanity did have an excellent point. Crouching beside Greyback's body, he took a limp arm and draped it over his shoulder before standing back up and heading to the woods. He had a long night ahead of him.


	4. Chapter 4

Downtown Makukage was bustling and vibrant as always. And, as always, the sheer size of it left Harry feeling as if he were adrift in a sea. The feeling was something he knew he would never shake. This wizarding district was just outside of Tokyo, and looked like it could encompass at least ten Diagon Alleys. It had to be the size of a small hamlet at the very least. While the sheer size was overwhelming, it was always helpful that when Harry ventured here, he knew where he had to go.

Today he was in the eastern quarter of the district. Some considered it to be the seedier side of Makukage, but Harry actually preferred it. The people here might be dealing with things ranging from slightly to highly illegal things, they weren't afraid to call it as they saw it. Or tell it. He usually had better luck digging here rather than in the other districts; the people there weren't as forthcoming or it took them longer to relinquish information.

So anything that got Harry closer to finding out where Voldemort and his cronies were hiding, the better.

He paused and looked around as the path diverged off into six different directions. Oh yes, and the sooner he got off these damned strange wizarding paths, the better. They split at the strangest places sometimes. The place he was looking for had been on the furthermost right path last time. Hopefully they hadn't moved shop since. He took the path, walking along it until he saw a sign overhead bearing the characters reading, 'Momotaro.' It was nice to know that the proprietor was still around… and had his peculiar sense of humour.

The door was shut tightly, which wasn't surprising. It was only just past one in the afternoon and they normally didn't open until four or five in the evening. And if he was correct, Junichiro was almost never up anytime before noon. Shrugging, he knocked on the door. If it wasn't Junichiro who answered, it would be that other guy who insisted on being called Phoenix and Harry hated dealing with him. Fending off unwanted advances wasn't something he liked to do.

The door was drawn back abruptly with a rattle and a pale smooth face peered out at him from the shadows. Thank Merlin, it was him.

"Harry Potter. I was wondering when you would turn up."

"Junichiro," Harry bowed in greeting. "I was hoping you'd be up."

"So you could pick my brains no doubt," Junichiro stepped aside and motioned for him to come in. "Yuuki is not with you?"

"No. She's trying to dig up some leads on the other side of Makukage." Harry stepped inside.

"Hn." Junichiro closed the door behind him and started walking in.

Harry followed after him, not too sure of what to make of that neutral guttural sound. Junichiro went behind the bar, reaching for glasses probably. Harry settled himself down on a seat and waited. Sure enough, Junichiro placed a glass in front of him and poured out a bottle of amber liquid.

"Butterbeer?" Harry was a bit surprised.

"I had to start importing it. Enough people have been asking for it." Junichiro poured himself one too. "So, what do you need to know?"

"I need to know if anything strange has happened in either Fukuoka or up in Hokkaido."

Junichiro blinked in surprise. "They are really far apart. Are you sure you have the right names?"

"I do."

"Hm," Junichiro was thoughtful for a moment. "Nothing really has been happening down in Fukuoka aside from festival preparations. But it is going to be like that any place you go. The only thing I can think of that seemed odd was an attack in Hokkaido. It was just outside Fureme, some little Muggle town."

"An attack?"

Junichiro nodded. "Something mauled a Gijutsunai truck driver and dragged them off the side of the road and partially ate them. The driver stopped for a cigarette or something. At best, most animal attacks happen in the summer, even into late September. But it's near the end of November now. They're trying to keep it hushed up and find the creature that did it before the Suijin Matsuri starts. The Ishikawa river runs close to the site of the festival and close to the site of the attack. There's a small wizarding town nearby, Shibahara. If there's anything to be found, it'll probably be there."

Harry frowned at that. Kazuo had failed to mention that. Of course, if the investigation was still ongoing, it could stand to reason that he thought it had nothing to bear with the issue at hand.

"…And then of course the Gijutsunai were annoyed because all of their cargo was gone. It took some doing to calm them down and wipe their memories."

"What was gone exactly?" Harry focused on Junichiro's words.

"A cargo shipment of fruits and some vegetables. I don't think the Ministry was too pleased to have to reimburse them. But it all has to make sense and nothing be missing. I think the missing monetary value of a truck full of produce would make them wonder even after their minds had been wiped."

Harry was silent for a moment. So for about a week, tops, they had some source of food. "And the attack took place close to Shibahara, was it?"

Junichiro nodded. "Fureme. But Shibahara is the closest Wizarding town, so if they are still investigating, that's the place to try. But there was another odd thing about the attack. The Gijutsunai had their throat ripped out. And it was just the throat. There were no defensive wounds or anything like that."

Harry stared at him for a moment. Most Muggles would do the instinctual thing and try to protect themselves. That usually meant the hands bore the brunt of the scars. And when the hands could do no more, the torso started taking damage. But if there were no defensive wounds, then the person was taken by surprise. Harry knew his next question would be met with a weird look, but he asked it anyways.

"Do they know if it was caused by a werewolf?"

"That I do not know," Junichiro fell silent for a moment, contemplating Harry. "I can try and see what I can dig up for you, but it might be costly. This is something the Reserve Division does not want the public to know, remember."

Harry nodded his head, wondering how he could get the information from Kazuo. The man seemed affable enough, but once Harry started poking his nose into something completely different, he had no doubt the man would shut him out faster than a spell could be cast. He took a drink of his Butterbeer, looking at Junichiro. In the shadows, the man's strange appearance was highlighted. His skin was pale, and his eyes a strange light grey colour. But it was the hair that was strange; it was black with glints of white streaked through it. He shook his head after a moment. Junichiro was a _yuki-tenpuku_ and generally didn't like to be reminded of it.

"So that was out by Shibahara, right?"

Juinchiro nodded and finished off his Butterbeer. "It's a purely wizarding town. Rather small, since most people go to Sapporo for whatever they need, but you should be able to Floo in."

"Do you know if anyone saw anything… odd there?"

"Odd?" Junichiro raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean by odd?"

"Someone who was there who shouldn't have been."

Junichiro looked at Harry for a long moment before he gave a low chuckle. "There are times I would love to know what goes on inside that head of yours. But you and your Occlumency…"

"You know how I feel when people try to pry," Harry shrugged. "That's why permanent defences are there."

"Can't blame a guy for trying. You are something of an enigma to me. Most people that walk in here… it is far too easy to slip into their minds and see what's floating around in there. I know that Miss Ise has shockingly indecent thoughts about my ass and… other parts, while old man Yamada thinks I am rather pale, mysterious and good looking and is very confused as to why I do not have nearly naked women strewn across my path," Junichiro grinned. "And some people are a little bit tougher than others. But you… you are completely under lock and key."

"With good reason." Harry said flatly.

"And you know I like a challenge," Junichiro shrugged. "But I do have to admit, I am surprised to see you here working on a case. You just killed Voldemort; you, of all people, have certainly earned a vacation. I thought the only thing that would make you move so quickly would be if Voldemort wasn't dead."

Harry looked up at Junichiro and saw complete understanding in those pale eyes. '_Damn._' There were some in this country that would be sympathetic to Voldemort and his cause. As progressive as the Japanese wizarding world was, there were still big pockets of anti-Muggle prejudice. And those big pockets usually had deep pockets. With enough ryo, if Voldemort found sanctuary there would be no finding him again until he was strong and powerful once more.

"However, I do not know much of anything," Junichiro finally looked away as he got another bottle of Butterbeer and filled his glass again. "And you know the conspiracy theorists love to talk. So of course the British government will deny that Voldemort is still alive. The great and noble Boy-Who-Lived has killed Voldemort, end of the matter."

That was a relief. If he had to worry about working to a deadline of sorts that would have increased the urgency of finding Voldemort and the last few Death Eaters. He finished off his Butterbeer and got up.

"Thank you," Harry pushed the chair back in. "I'll head up to Shibahara and see what I can find. I told Yuuki I was coming here."

"I think I can expect her in a few hours," Junichiro grinned. "I will have to have a chat with her, she makes herself too much of a stranger, and get her up to date. You can use my Floo in my office at the back."

Harry managed to restrain the urge to make a face. Floo was going to be the quickest way to get there and back within a day. "Thanks. To get to Shibahara, is it the… uh…"

"Ishida Inn." Junichiro took a drink of his Butterbeer. "Shall I expect you back in a few hours?"

"Maybe. I have to see what's up there first."

"Okay. I need to start prepping for tonight. I will not have time for you if you do come back."

"That's all right," Harry said as he headed for the back room. "I'll just show myself out if the place is busy."

Junichiro raised his glass in him to salute. "Good luck. And see if they can change that terrible misnomer. You are a man and they still call you by that dreadful thing."

Harry just nodded his head in acknowledgement before he slipped down the side corridor. It was a little bit narrow, but easy to get along. The good thing about this corridor was that it didn't promote lingering, since the bathroom was back this way as well. When he saw the door bearing the Japanese for manager – at least that what he thought it said – he opened it and ducked in. Luckily enough there was a big fireplace to his right and a desk and chair facing it on the opposite side of the room. He walked to the fireplace, taking a handful of Floo powder from a bucket attached to the wall.

He stepped in, called out his destination and threw the powder down. The whirling green was slightly nauseating after not Flooing for almost a decade. When he finally popped out at the other end, he felt slightly relieved. As did his stomach. There was a girl at a table, poring over a ledger. She looked up at him and greeted him with a smile. Harry nodded and smiled weakly as his stomach slowly settled down. When he finally felt fine, he walked out of the inn and on to the street.

And immediately saw a problem.

The entire town was surrounded by forest. There was a main path cutting through town, and probably a few more running through. The only way to find out anything would be to circuit the entire town and see if any clues had been left behind. If any of the Death Eaters were venturing into town, they were probably doing it at night. The attack on the driver had been almost a month ago. And they had they had taken the cargo. That meant that they were probably running low on food now. They would have to venture into town at some point if they were in the area. He walked back inside and mad inquiries about booking a room if possible.

He'd have to stay here for a few days.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Greyback was dead and gone.

And Lucius hated him even more now than he thought possible.

At the moment, he was lying in a room – where, he hadn't the faintest idea – and everything felt sore. He turned his head slowly and looked around. He was lying on a pallet of some sort on the floor, and the light that was coming in through the window was very faint. So it was either dawn or twilight. He tried to push himself up and was rewarded with stabbing pain in his forearms. He winced which led to pain on his face. He pulled his arms up from underneath the blanket and saw bandages wrapped along his forearms.

"The damned werewolf tried to claw me apart." Lucius grumbled as he slowly lowered his arms back onto the blanket.

He lay there for a little bit longer, brain trying to figure out what was going on. He got an answer a few minutes later when a door opened and a figure stepped in. The sound of rustling cloth came now followed by the sound of something being placed on the ground. Lucius waited until the person came into view.

"Yo-" Lucius started but a small hand clapped over his mouth.

"Don't talk loudly."

Lucius was looking at the child who had buried an axe in Greyback's side. He closed his mouth and remained silent. When the child was sure he would be silent, the hand was removed. There were three bowls and a spoon beside the child. Lucius looked at them, trying to figure out if they were a boy or a girl, before whispering softly, "You're Hanaki?"

"Yes," Hanaki's voice sounded male. "You have to be quiet. My father will hear you. He's asleep now I think."

The sound of a bottle breaking somewhere seemed to refute that. Lucius looked around warily before taking a deep, slow breath. His face stung a bit but it wasn't nearly as bad as his arms. He watched as Hanaki picked up the bowl with the spoon and brought it closer.

"I have soup," Hanaki adjusted his pillow, raising his head up a bit before placing the bowl at his lips. "Here."

Lucius sipped, looking at the boy warily. He drank slowly, sipping until he felt a slight gurgle of queasiness. When he shook his head, Hanaki picked up the bowl and started on the remainder of the soup. That was surprising.

"Where's your dinner?" Lucius murmured.

Hanaki blinked at his question for a moment, as if startled. "This is it: soup and a bowl of rice. … Did you want some more?"

Lucius was becoming more perplexed by the minute. "Why did you feed me your dinner?"

Hanaki gave him that solemn, unblinking look. "Would you rather go hungry?"

There was nothing that Lucius could really say that. He simply sighed and stared up at the ceiling. The quiet sound of Hanaki eating now sounded and the time passed by slowly. When the bowl was finally placed back down, Lucius glanced over at the other bowl. It was low enough for him to see into. It was full of a clear liquid.

"Aren't you going to drink your water?"

Hanaki shook his head. "That's a restorative for you when you feel up to drinking it."

This was all very confusing to Lucius. Firstly, the child had no idea of who he was or what he was like. And here he was nursing him back to health? And he was easily within reach; at the very least, he should have a wand within easy reach to protect himself. And his eyes looked far too serious for a child. But there was something else that was actually bothering Lucius as much as the trust displayed.

"You speak fluent English."

"I learned," Hanaki shrugged. "It's been useful."

Lucius kept his face expressionless, but on the inside he was frowning with puzzlement. Hanaki looked like he was just barely ten. But he was speaking like he was much older.

"How old are you?"

"I'm old enough to know that you need to save your energy," Hanaki's eyes took on a defiant light. "Here, drink this."

Hanaki obviously wasn't in the mood for anymore questions, since he raised the smallest bowl and raised it to Lucius' lips. When the bowl was emptied, Lucius looked at Hanaki once more.

"I shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous."

"I'm not scared of you." Hanaki shrugged. "And truth be told, I'd rather take my chances with you."

'_That's a new one. But then again, he has no idea of the things you have done, perpetrated… and will probably do before it's all said and done._' Lucius was silent, his brain mulling things over. He had to get back to the others. And secondly, he needed to find some more food. As soon as he could, he needed to get out of here as stealthily as possible.

"I don't think you're a bad person," Hanaki drew his legs up and rested his chin on his knees. "You saved my life."

'_Do you want to tell him that it was only to save your own for a little bit longer? Do that and you may find yourself with another problem.' _Lucius remained silent. He was starting to really hate his conscience. It had picked up far too much of Severus' snark and a deeply cynical pragmatism that had, as much as he was loathe to admit it, got him this far.

"I don't want to be here anymore." Hanaki was giving Lucius that same unblinking look. It was actually very disconcerting to have those brown eyes focused on him so intently. " I need a change in pace in my life."

"I don't know what you're expecting me to do about it."

"Take me with you." Hanaki stated simply. "I don't want to stay here any longer."

Lucius simply stared at the boy for a long moment. "No. I will not. I'm dead anyways."

That statement, finally, caused some alarm to spread across the boy's face, but it was only there for a moment before it flickered away. Hanaki peered at him for a long moment before he finally spoke.

"What's hunting you?"

'_This damned child is far too perceptive for their own good.'_ Lucius closed his eyes and started breathing slowly. Hanaki made a slightly miffed sound, but didn't try to get anything further from Lucius. He continued to feign sleep until he heard the sound of clothing being unfolded and arranged somehow. And then something curious happened. There was the distinct feeling of wards dropping somehow. It didn't ease Lucius' mind that he could feel the raw power that was dissipating slowly. It felt thick and almost elemental in nature. He opened his eyes and sat up very slowly.

The room was still shadowy, but now there was a pile of blankets off in one corner and something was bundled up in them. It was probably Hanaki, fast asleep. Lucius reached for the restorative and drank the rest of it down slowly. It was weird drinking this clear, tasteless potion. It was as if he could feel the health seeping its way back into his system slowly but surely. After he drained the bowl, he sat there for a few minutes. Nothing was hurting anymore, or seemed like it was in violent danger of spinning. IN fact, dare he say it, he felt like he was in the best shape of his life.

He slipped out of the bed, giving his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. His room was perfectly steady and his stomach felt fine. It seemed like it was a one bedroom home of some sort. And there by a door was a bundled pack of supplies. It seemed to have blankets and the like. There was a box beside it and Lucius was willing to bet that it contained a good amount of food.

'_Yes, this will be one of your finer moments, won't it?'_ Lucius scowled as he picked both bundles up slowly and eased the door open. The sooner he was gone from here, the sooner he wouldn't find himself trying to explain to Hanaki why he couldn't tag along. The last thing he needed to deal with was a case of hero worship.

But the minute he stepped outside, he got a rather nasty surprise.

It hadn't been a home he'd been in, but rather a shack. And it was snowing. Not thickly, but enough to obscure any possible path through the forest. Lucius almost felt like swearing. But he calmed himself with a few steady breaths. As much as swearing would make him feel better, it would not help him get back to the others any time sooner. He drew his wand and rested it on his palm. If he remembered correctly, when using a person to orient oneself, the wand pointed in a straight line to them. That was provided the person was staying in one spot. Considering how much of her spine Alecto had lost, Lucius was pretty sure she was still at the shack.

"Point me Alecto."

His wand quivered for a second before slowly turning to a north-easterly direction. What puzzled Lucius the most was the sluggish manner in which the wand responded. That he could deal with when he was back with the others and figured out what to do next._ 'And while you stand here trying to be smart about this, you are slowly freezing to death you idiotic twit.'_ That was quite true. His fingertips felt cold. He paused only long enough to look up. Thankfully, the moon was up and it was near to waning. Give it a few more days. Considering that it had almost been the full moon when he'd killed Greyback, close to a week must have passed already. That was not good and – _'Might I point out again once more that you are slowly freezing to death?'_

Lucius started walking as that thought flitted through his mind. His footsteps crunched through the snow, and every so often he glanced back behind him. But there was no one behind him at all. Every so often, he paused and oriented himself. It was tough to make sure he stayed in a straight line and he found himself deviating further and further the longer he walked. It seemed to take forever before he finally started seeing some recognizable things. Such as the dead yew tree. While Lucius wasn't one for omen, portents or whatever one wanted to call that nonsense, that tree had made him feel a tiny bit optimistic. Dead yew trees weren't something that was seen very often. And drawing parallels to the Dark Lord's wand being made of yew were superficial at best…

'_But still, anything that keeps you going until the end, right?'_ Lucius paused for a moment. The house was almost thirty minutes due east of the shack. Pulling out his wand once more, he oriented himself to the north and then hurried off. Soon enough, the outline of the shack loomed between the bare tree trunks. Lucius was not looking forward to this next bit. He'd, somehow, have to get rid of Bellatrix and then Alecto. And then, maybe then, he'd personally wring the life from the Dark Lord himself. Who cared if he denied Potter something? He'd be selfish and claim vengeance for Narcissa and Draco. _'At least you'd have done something productive before you finally die.'_

That damned conscience of his was starting to get very annoying… when it wasn't being useful and keeping him alive just a little bit longer.

'_And you, fool that you are, seem quite intent on letting yourself become a block of ice.'_

Case in point… kind of. Freezing to death was never really part of the plan.

"Lucius?"

There was a strained whisper from the house. He looked up to see the front door open a crack and Alecto's haggard face peering out. "Yes" he answered before hurrying into the house. Alecto gave a wan smile as she looked at him.

"You look… very clean." She finally pronounced. "You've been gone for almost a week? What happened?"

"I got delayed." Lucius said simply. "I managed to find some-"

"Lucius."

The ominous sounding croak came from the sole bedroom. Lucius didn't even glance at Alecto as he walked to the room. Bellatrix was standing there, giving him an imperious look. It didn't help that there was a sneer on her face. Considering that she honestly looked like shit, was even crazier than normal and was in a lucid period, this couldn't end well.

"I see you have eliminated the problem from our presence."

'_Ah, let's see what he wants now.'_ Lucius looked at the baby and bowed. "I did what was necessary and prudent."

Bellatrix walked forward and caressed his cheek with a familiar touch, and Lucius knew that his initial guess had been correct. When Voldemort had possession of a body, he had been very fond of touching his favoured ones. Considering Lucius was the only one left who was now capable of doing much of anything without needed to be controlled every step of the way, this shouldn't have been a surprise.

"I am in need of a body Lucius," Bellatrix paused for a moment, voice wheezing slightly. "I need you to get someone to make it for me."

'_That was definitely unexpected.'_ Lucius nodded. "Who do I need to contact, my Lord?" the words burned as they left his mouth

"In Shibahara, a small wizarding town. I have noted the sky; it shouldn't be far from here." Bellatrix regarded him for a long moment. "You are looking for a man named Shinobu. Tell him that I demand what he owes."

"Yes my lord," Lucius inclined his head once more.

"You may leave me now."

Lucius bowed and backed towards the hallway again. Alecto was still standing there and she was holding the pack that Lucius had brought.

"Supplies?" She held it up, looking hopeful.

"I think so," Lucius glanced back to the room he had just left. "I have to leave again."

Alecto frowned. "What does our lord need?"

"A body. And I am the one to obtain it for him." Lucius frowned as he pulled his cloak in closer around him.

There was a displeased look on Alecto's face, but she removed her cloak and settled it around her shoulders. "You need this more than I."

Lucius simply acknowledged it with a nod of his head. He opened the front door and looked outside. It was still snowing and his foot prints here had been erased. He drew his wand and laid it flat on his hand, murmuring the orientation spell once more. The wand quivered and pointed south-west. He pulled Alecto's cloak against him and started trudging through the snow once more.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Harry was starting to think that there was nothing in this town at all. Shibahara was simply a quiet little wizarding hamlet that saw the occasional traveller. The people were nice, even if they gossiped a lot and were quite friendly. The only questionable thing that could be said was that, 'crazy old Arashita' as the kids liked to call him, was holed up in his mansion just on the outskirts of town and didn't want anyone at all bothering him.

He'd spend a few more days in Shibahara and then if nothing panned out, he'd try down in Fukuoka. If that didn't pan out, he might have to see if there was any way to scry out their location.

But still, old Mr Arashita was something of an oddity in this tightly knit community. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. All that Miss Ikeburo at the ryoka had been able to tell him was that Mr Arashita had been living in that house for the past forty years. He was seen every so often, but it was usually at night when he was out for a walk. Other than that, no one knew anything specific about him.

'_I'm probably going to have to investigate him before this is all said and done,'_ Harry frowned at he looked at his watch. The date was reading the nineteenth of November (?). _'And where the fuck is Yuuki? She was supposed to be here almost five days ago.'_

Harry took a deep breath and got up from his spot. He was sitting on the ryoka's roof, and surveying the town. This was the third night in a row he was watching for something. And it seemed like tonight was a good night to try finding a spot by Mr Arashita's home. That man had to be hiding something. It was just a question of what.

Harry grabbed a branch and walked along a lower one before reaching the trunk and shimmying down to the ground. It took him a grand total of almost twenty minutes to walk closer to Mr Arashita's house. And it took even less time for him to find a good vantage point. It just didn't help that he had to find a pine tree and climb up it. Between the needles nearly poking him in the eye and bark flaking off under his grip, climbing wasn't exactly fun. It also didn't help that the wind was at his back. The air was crisp and cool, and seemed to hold the promise of snow. He murmured a quick warming charm and settled in the tree. This spot provided a good vantage point that covered a little more than a hundred and eighty degrees. It was about the only advantage Harry had seen to the mountainous area. And…

"What on Earth is that?" he murmured, sniffing.

The wind had changed direction now, and Harry could smell something on it. He wasn't too sure what it was, but it was something that he couldn't quite place. The wind picked up again and changed direction, cutting across him now. It seemed like a storm of some sort was coming. But before the wind had been coming from the direction of Mr Arashita's house, whatever had caused that scent was there, probably food or something like that.

The wind died down now, and Harry's brow furrowed in puzzlement. A glance up at the sky showed that there were no clouds. He waited a bit longer and nothing. No clouds passing overhead and no more wind. It was as if a freak gust had come out of nowhere and swirled around the house and the outlying area for a bit before dying suddenly. Harry frowned as a light on the upper level of the house was turned on.

He needed to get into that house.

_______________________________________________________________________________

This part of the plan, Lucius couldn't argue with. He'd been here with Shinobu for only a few hours. It had taken Lucius a bit of time to find out that there was a town recluse, a Mr S. Arashita, who was rarely seen. Lucius knew that he had found the man he was looking for. It didn't take much effort to sneak into the house and lie in wait until the man came back. The man had quickly discovered him and had done his best to dispatch him in short order.

He had thought he was fighting a grizzled old man. But once Lucius claimed to be collecting on the favour that Voldemort was owed… well, that had stopped the fight pretty quickly. And the grizzled old man had almost literally melted away. Unsurprisingly enough, Shinobu had been using a glamour. It was strange to see an old man morph into a fifty-something year old man. And all Shinobu had done was silently direct him to a bathroom, and then pointed out a bedroom. Lucius hadn't seen the man since.

Though it had to be said that a hot bath after so many months of grit, grime and dirty living, had been heaven, just… absolute heaven. At that moment, Lucius was sure it was even better than sex. The only weird thing was that after he got out, he found his ragged clothes gone and thick sort of robe and socks in its place. Kimono was it or something like that. Either way, he'd been forced to put it on.

Sighing he, turned on a bedroom light and fumbled with the bedding in the closet. He couldn't wait to get back to a bed, you could just flop into. If this pulling out every night thing was going to be a constant, it would become very annoying very quickly and… and the damn thing was stuck. He snarled to himself as he started tugging on it hard. It had to come out at some –

"You left me."

Lucius' hands let go of the bedding in surprise and he sprawled to the floor, arms outstretched and absorbing most of the shock. When he got back to his feet and pushed his hair from his face, he found himself facing Hanaki. Lucius frowned. This… this didn't make sense. Shinobu had recast wards on this house after Lucius managed to stealthily make an opening just large enough for him to slip through. Lucius felt when they had been activated, felt the power sliding over him, almost essentially sealing him in. And it hadn't been some paltry sort of ward. It was the sort of high-grade ward used on homes and other magical buildings. It couldn't compare to the power he felt when he first left Hanaki in the shack in who knew where. But it indicated someone that wasn't to be trifled with.

And yet, here was this boy, sitting cross-legged on the floor and giving him an accusatory look. It was defying a lot of points of logic.

"And you took my bag." Hanaki finished with a huff.

"I apologise?" Lucius sounded very confused as to what exactly was happening.

"Have you no manners and or decorum?"

'_Just tell him that desperation makes one do, well, desperate things. The brat should understand that… hopefully.'_ Lucius regarded Hanaki for a moment before asking, "How did you get in here?"

Hanaki shrugged as he got up from the floor. "Alecto and the others are fine. I saw to them."

Lucius' heart thudded painfully in his chest. What was with this child? Was he some sort of prodigy, who had some romantic notion of living life on the run? Either way, Lucius wanted no part of it.

"Go home."

"I'm not going home," Hanaki said quietly, but with an underlying tone of defiance. "I am staying with you."

Lucius didn't have the energy to argue. He went back to the bedding and gave it a yank. It popped free and Lucius easily unrolled it and arranged the blankets over top before getting underneath. He looked at Hanaki for a long moment.

"Perhaps me leaving you behind the first time didn't say enough?" Lucius asked quietly.

"I've been told I'm stubborn," Hanaki yawned. "Can I get in there with you? It's a bit on the cold side."

Lucius opened his mouth to say something now, but it seemed like a moment passed and next thing he knew, Hanaki was already underneath the blankets and snuggling into him. There was a surreal sort of normalcy to this… if, of course, one ignored the obvious facts. Hanaki was already falling asleep and Lucius wasn't too sure if he could be bothered to kick him out. Maybe if he could wheedle the boy, he could get an answer out of him as to how he got in.

And it was cold. An extra body for warmth wasn't exactly to be denied.

But trying to puzzle it all out… it was mildly confusing. Lucius closed his eyes. And when he opened them again, everything was blurry and sunlight was streaming into the room. Lucius swore and looked around. He had definitely fallen asleep. It had felt like he only closed his eyes for a moment. And Hanaki was nowhere to be seen. This was truly getting strange. He frowned and rolled up the bedding and placed it back in the closet before walking to the window.

'_One of these days, you're going to need to ask how the brat does it.'_ Lucius frowned at that; apparently the child's name was Hanaki, what was so hard to understand about that. _'I understand that the brat is doing something no child should be able to do. He just shouldn't have the level of power that he seems to have.'_ Well, maybe he was a half-breed of some kind. He'd seen people who were half-Veela and the like do some, frankly, insane things that shouldn't have been possible. _'If that is the case, then you need to find out what he is. He's the one wild element that might sink your entire plan.'_

Lucius frowned as he thought. Finally looking down at the ground, he noticed that it had snowed last night. There were footprints leading away from the house into the forest. Hanaki must have sneaked out at night, but to do what who knew. And the window was open, but for some reason he didn't feel the cold air seeping in through the crack in the window. But other than that, it was rather beautiful outside. Everything was frosted in white, and it was probably only a matter of time before melted snow started freezing into ice regularly at night. The sound of the bedroom door opened made Lucius turn his head slightly to find Shinobu entering the room. Lucius watched as he reached into his pocket and drew out two small shrunken chairs. He made them grow back to their original size and seated himself on one. He gestured to the other one with an arched eyebrow. Lucius had been locked in this house, and his room. Trust worked both ways.

"You'll forgive me if I chose to stand." Lucius said simply, turning to face Shinobu completely.

Shinobu gave a wolfish grin now and tapped the chair with his wand. Something dissipated with a wisp of purple vapour.

"Please, sit."

'_Well, that's the most you've ever heard him say at once. Maybe you'll get more than a dozen words out of him in one go._' Lucius regarded the seat for a long moment before he moved over to it and slowly seated himself.

When Shinobu spoke, it was with amusement. "You bear yourself with dignity."

'_Five words, my Gods.'_ Lucius simply inclined his head. "Lord Voldemort –"

"I know, wants a new body."

"I imagine it is not an easy task to undertake. If there is anything I can do to facilitate it…"

Lucius let the sentence trail off purposely. Shinobu was giving him a speculative look now. And when he finally spoke, it had nothing to do with what he had originally said.

"I can build him a better body."

"I beg your pardon?"

"A body better than t he one he will be expecting." Shinobu seemed to be angling for something.

'_Almost a dozen words. Here's hoping he goes for broke.'_ Lucius felt like he was playing some high-stakes game of poker. "What do would you seek in return?"

"His aid," Shinobu paused for a moment. "Our land is overrun with unworthy half-breeds."

'_Ah, this same old spiel again. Voldemort would probably accept that. It would give him time to get accustomed to his new body.'_ And while the body was being built, it would give Lucius time to figure out how to foil this newest development.

"I would require his knowledge, his… expertise." Shinobu finished.

Lucius hadn't missed that split second pause. "But you don't trust his expertise."

"I have heard what happened in England. Harry Potter is a most determined adversary. And a rather annoying one. He shall have to be dealt with first."

'_Over two dozen words. He must really hate half-breeds. And Potter.'_ Lucius watched Shinobu for a moment. "You were there with our Lord in Poland."

Shinobu nodded his head. "I was. It was a most enjoyable vacation until Potter interrupted."

'_That was what this man considered a vacation? He might, conceivably, be more insane than Bellatrix.'_ And that was saying a lot. Lucius shifted in his seat slightly. "I see. I do believe that Lord Voldemort would be amenable to your conditions. He would be most pleased with, what I assume, would be some of your finest work."

Shinobu's eyes gleamed and Lucius felt that he had him. _'A little flattery goes a long way.'_ But then Shinobu spoke.

"And when Voldemort rises to ascendency again, I have one request for him."

"What is it?"

"Hermione Granger. She would make an excellent servant."

Lucius didn't want to know. He simply nodded his head and murmured, "I shall inform him."

Shinobu rose from his seat. "I do not need you assistance with this. You are welcome to stay until it is completed. I should finish around the beginning of January."

That was the last thing that Shinobu had said before he bowed slightly and left the room about as silently as he came. Somehow, Lucius was sure that Voldemort wouldn't be thrilled if he came back without the news that his body was ready. It looked like he was staying here for the next month or so.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Jittery was a feeling Harry hadn't had in a long time.

It made him feel nervous and uncertain. And the utterly stupid part was that it was only one in the afternoon. He'd come back to the ryoka at seven in the morning. His all-night watch had yielded nothing. All he'd gotten for his trouble in the night was cold, the wind blowing that faint puzzling scent his way and gotten snowed on. He'd managed to get a few hours sleep and then found himself awake on the futon, drenched in sweat, and wondering why the room felt like a furnace. He'd kicked the blankets off, stripped down to his briefs and tried to get back to sleep and failed miserably. So when a knock on the door, Harry was slightly grumpy when he stomped over and slid the door open, he was surprised to see Yuuki standing there, Munin perched on her shoulder.

Yuuki stared at him for a long moment before she finally pronounced, "You stink _and_ you look like shit. What the hell have you been doing here?"

Harry stomped away from the door with a 'tch' sound and started rolling up the bedding to put away in the closet. He pulled the chair out from the desk and flopped down in it.

"I think I might be sick," he finally pronounced. "Caught something last night."

Yuuki rolled her eyes and stepped into the room, sliding the door closed behind her. "And here I thought we had some Death Eaters to catch."

"Do not start with me," he wiped away a trickle of sweat away from his eyes. "I am not in the mood for your smart-assery."

Yuuki mouthed, "Smart-assery?" to herself before she shook her head slightly. "You must be sick. That's the quickest you've ever bitten my head off. C'mon, back into bed with you."

Harry watched as she drew her wand and swished it around. The bedding jumped out of the closet and settled itself on the floor. The blankets were invitingly folded back and Harry decided to save himself the inevitable argument and just got underneath them. She tucked the blankets in halfway up his chest.

"Stay put. I'll be back in a second."

Harry actually didn't feel all that inclined to get out of bed at the moment. He was still tired from being up all night and getting a crappy sleep. He was slowly drowsing off when Yuuki came back about ten minutes later.

"Harry?" her voice was quiet.

"Mm?" Harry didn't trust his vocal chords to sound out any complex words at the moment.

"I've got Kazuo in the room next to you. I'm in the other adjacent room," Yuuki paused as she knelt by the bed and felt at his brow. "By Himiko, you're burning up. Good thing I've called my _kidoushi_."

"M'kay." Harry managed before yawning and blinking blearily.

"Just go to sleep Harry. I'll take over watching for anything tonight."

"'s good." Harry mumbled before drifting off once more.

He fell asleep, but every so often he'd wake up enough to hear the murmur of conversation. But he always drifted back to slumber before anything really registered. By the time he finally woke up, the bedroom light was on and when he craned his head to look out at the window, he could see very faint stars. Yuuki was nowhere to be found, but someone was sitting with their back to him, at the desk, leaning over something. Harry got up, feeling a bit better. At least they had finally turned the temperature down in here. He got up slowly, easing himself out from under the blanket so there wasn't an unnecessary rustling of cloth. When he'd just gotten up from the futon, the person spoke.

"You know, the absence of noise is just as telling."

"Kazuo?" Harry's voice was rough from sleep.

The man turned around and gave him a grin. "I felt that I was best one suited to help you. No one else is going to be able to get you across a park as quickly as me. Yuuki is out on watch. She said she would be up by old man Arashita's place. Said it struck her as odd, since everyone here –"

"Is so friendly and he sounds about as nice as dragon pox." Harry finished. "What time is it?"

"Ah," Kazuo glanced at his watch. "Just after four forty in the morning. I've got extra coffee if you want some."

"That'd be great." Harry said as he spotted his clothes tossed in a corner. "Black, three sugars."

By the time Kazuo fixed him a cup, Harry had pulled on his pants and shrugged into a shirt. He came over to the desk and took the cup and gulped down about half of it. Kazuo sat back down and when Harry looked down at the surface, the topographical lines of a map greeted his vision.

"You know, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Okay."

"In the pictures I've seen of you, you always had…" Kazuo made circular motions around his eyes.

"My glasses?" Harry shrugged. "They were a liability. I them fixed when I was nineteen."

"How'd you manage that?" Kazuo repeated the words.

"With something very expensive," Harry shrugged. "Which park is this map for?"

"Rashomon National Park. Since you've been here for a few days, I thought it would be best to start here. You might have a good idea of which direction to start looking in."

Harry nodded his head and took a gulp of coffee. "I'm guessing the Xs are where the houses are located?"

"Yes. If we take enough supplies with it, it might be best to start at the other end of the park. It's where the highest concentration of houses is. They taper off the closer to Shibahara, with only a few. This park isn't so bad. It's only got a total of sixteen houses."

"Guess some people liked their privacy." Harry finished off his coffee. "That does make the most sense. How's your wandwork?"

"Ranked best in my graduating class," Kazuo smirked. "Regularly pass the Ministry exams every year."

"Your Ministry tests you every year?" That surprised Harry.

"How else to make sure that we're at the top of our game?" Kazuo shrugged. "Either way I'm proficient with offensive and defensive spells. You name it and I can probably do it."

"Good enough for me. When did Yuuki say she was heading back?"

"At five. So she'll walk out of ear shot and probably Apparate back here. So she should be here any minute now." Kazuo glanced at his watch again. "Furu-ya should be opening soon. When Yuuki gets back, I'll see if I can head over and get our supplies."

"They open at six in the morning?"

"Six thirty actually. The sooner we get out there, the less chance of having to ride out a snowstorm. It's been small ones so far. The further we get into November, the higher the risk of a blizzard. December… well, I don't even want to get into that."

The sharp crack of Apparation interrupted their conversation and made them look to the middle of the room. Yuuki was standing there, shaking the light dusting of snow from her hair.

"My boys are up!" she gave them a cheeky grin and came over, now dusting the snow from her shoulders. "So, are you two plotting nefarious things in order to take down evil? Dare I say, dastardly things?"

Kazuo turned back to the map. Harry barely heard his muffled, "Forgot she gets like this early in the morning." Truth be told, Harry had forgotten as well. Yuuki had shrugged out of her jacket now and placed it on the back of the chair. She grabbed the pot and studied it before dumping in some sugar and cream, gave it a swirl and took a long pull. Yeah, Harry had also forgotten about the lack of using cups and general cutlery. Thankfully there was no breakfast here. Yuuki was bit messy when she couldn't be bothered with forks. Or knives or spoons come to think of it.

"We're planning to start at this end of the park," Kazuo gestured to the map. "Harry can fill you in. I need to get to Furu-ya and get what we need." He got up out of his seat and got his cloak on. "And I'll grab some breakfast too."

Harry nodded his head and finished off his coffee. Sliding into Kazuo's seat, he looked down at the map. A grand total of sixteen houses to get through. The only problem was that the park was big and there was a lot of square mileage to cover between houses. Unless Kazuo had a Portkeying system set up of some sort, then they would be doing it the much longer way.

"Hey, there's a lake in the park." Harry glanced up to see Yuuki frowning down at the map. She tapped a finger right in the middle of said lake. "Right here. That looks like it would be at least a three day walk from Shibahara. Four if you don't know where you're going. We could try around there first."

Harry could see what she was driving at. But what were the chances of the Death Eaters actually finding the only source of fresh water in a park that was over seven hundred thousand square miles? Not to mention the fact that there might be wells with fresh water at some of these houses. No, the best plan was to stick to a systematic search method and see what was found.

"Hey, you're not really burning up anymore. A bit warm, but better. What did the Healer (?) say?"

Harry shrugged. "Don't know. I was out like a light until about twenty minutes ago."

"Oh. Maybe Kazuo told him to come back later. I'd feel better knowing you're not going to fall ill again."

"Mm," harry made a vague sound of agreement. "You and Kazuo seem to be getting along… finally."

"Yes, well, even though you were an asshole about it, you were right." Yuuki paused. "I'm glad you've softened up at least a bit."

Harry felt like saying that was debatable, but how could he say that? It would be a little bit biased. He simply shrugged, looking at her from the map.

"Did you smell anything up at the Arashita place? Anything," Harry struggled to find the right word but eventually gave up. "Peculiar?"

That seemed to puzzle Yuuki. "Can't say I smelled anything peculiar. But I did smell something. Some stupid animal decided to take a steaming dump close by. I was stuck in a tree with the wind blowing downwind from that place and I had to smell shit for about three hours before the wind direction finally changed."

Ah Yuuki, colourful as ever. "Maybe it was just my imagination."

"Well, are you sure you can't describe what it smelled like?"

"It smelled good." Harry offered.

"Well, that clarifies things. That's like saying fresh edamame straight from the pot is good. Like nattou is amazing, and absolutely divine, but that's a matter of opinion. You can't really think of anything else to describe it?"

"Male." Harry blurted out.

There was a pronounced silence at that. Yuuki was looking at him through narrowed eyes and Harry himself was wondering what exactly had prompted that strange outburst. When Yuuki finally spoke it was slowly, almost carefully.

"It was male. Okay, I guess that gives us something to work with," she paused. "Anything else?"

"Just… male." Harry felt like a complete idiot for being unable to provide anything else.

"Okay then." Yuuki drawled slightly. "So it smelled good and it was male."

"Yes." Harry said slowly. When Yuuki put it like that, it sounded rather strange to his ear.

"… I'm going to have my _kidoushi_ come and look you over before we head out."


	5. Chapter 5

Lucius was having a rather serious problem at the moment.

This house was very much akin to a damned labyrinth. When he'd woken up just before dawn this morning, he'd slipped out of bed and tried sliding the door open. Much to his surprise, it opened and he looked out into the hallway hesitantly. It seemed that Shinobu was extending him some measure of trust while keeping him here.

Never let it be said that Lucius was foolish and didn't do the sensible thing. Of course he was going to take a look around. 'One never knows when an escape route might be needed.' And so he'd spent the morning wandering around and had discovered only two things: one was that Shinobu had a very sparse sense of decorating and two, was that this house was now sealed especially tight, since he was in here.

He pressed a hand against the wall, concentrating for a moment. The wards were there, strong and powerful, the magic felt like a rabid chained beast. If someone tried to get in here without permission, they would truly regret it. Of course, that rather worked both ways. It was something that would keep him in. He didn't want to leave and find himself stuck outside having to deal with those wards. It had snowed again last night and the temperature had dropped well below freezing.

Maybe if he was lucky everyone at the house would freeze to death.

"Not that I would have such luck," Lucius muttered to himself.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he looked around the room he had paused it. It was some sort of room that had a window looking out onto a garden inside. The garden was surprisingly well tended and guarded against the winter. _'How lovely, the psychopath loves to garden. Everyone needs a hobby, don't they?'_ Lucius turned away from the window, intending to leave the room, when something occurred to him. Maybe the reason why he hadn't found anything was because it was outside rather than inside.

'_There's an idea. However, you are not suitably dressed for tromping outside.'_ Lucius frowned. Perhaps with a warming spell he could do a cursory search of the grounds. _'And how long do you think the spell will last in your condition? You're barely eating, barely have any strength. You barely ate last night.'_ Shinobu had given him a meal that was a bit on the spare side, but seemed like a banquet compared to what he'd been eating lately. And that wasn't much of anything. Come to think of it, he had done quite a bit of back and forth between the town and the house. How had he made it there and back so frequently in his state, not to mention searching through the forest for things that they needed, and as quickly as he had? _'Ah, and now you ask questions of the things that should have made you wonder before. Something else is obviously at work here. You need to figure out what it is, and if it's a threat.'_

"Are you competent?"

Lucius nearly jumped out of his skin. But he managed to keep his composure and turned from the window and looked at the doorway. Shinobu was standing there, watching him intently. Either Shinobu was going to have him do something utterly demeaning or would ask for his help.

"With?"

"Potions."

"Yes." That was all Lucius was prepared to offer in the way of a response.

He stood there watching as Shinobu's eyes flickered over him, weighing something. It took a few more seconds before he nodded and gestured with his head before walking silently from the doorway. Lucius followed after him, watching his feet. He had a peculiar rolling motion to his stride, but he literally moved across the floor silently. Lucius found himself vaguely wondering if that would work outside when Shinobu paused by a doorway, taking a fur-lined cloak. He murmured something before making a pulling motion at the collar. The cloak split into two and Shinobu wordlessly handed one to Lucius. It took one mechanical, ingrained gesture for Lucius to settle the cloak on his shoulders.

When he opened the door, cold air blasted in at them. Lucius was grateful for the cloak and stepped outside, watching as his breath condensed into a swirling cloud.

"We need clay." Shinobu said simply as he walked, snow crunching with a bite beneath his feet..

Lucius didn't say anything, watching as Shinobu moved to a barren patch underneath a pine tree. The ground must be frozen nearly solid by now, if not already. He could only assume that the clay was needed for a step in creating this new body. He came over and knelt beside Shinobu. Time to play the fool.

"And we need clay, why exactly?"

"For his body," Shinobu paused. "The blood and bone of the father combined with the very earth that is us… his new body shall be incredible… and as indestructible as I can make it.:

'_Slight problem with that.'_ Lucius remained silent for a moment. "And we absolutely must collect it this way?"

"The body must be as untainted by magic as possible. It will be more receptive that way, a blank slate for him to do as he wishes."

"And there is nothing I can do to help afterwards?"

"I shall require your assistance… but not as of this moment."

Lucius simply shrugged and looked down at the frozen ground. Or, after he touched it a moment later, not as frozen as he had thought. It was slightly spongy to the touch and when he looked at the palm of his hand, it was moist with streaks of dirt on it. Shinobu had placed a massive bucket beside himself and one beside Lucius. Shinobu was steadily filling his bucket. Lucius held back an annoyed sigh and dug his hands into the ground. The clay felt soft and still wet to the touch and it made a wet smack when Lucius dropped it into the bucket. He worked slowly, mind turning over what Shinobu said.

"If this is to be untainted," Lucius was choosing his words carefully. "How is this earth still soft? It should be frozen hard."

Shinobu made a sound of vague approval. "It could be argued that all magic is one and the same. However, when a witch or wizard casts a spell, it subtly changes the magic, influences it with intent. Up until that moment, the magic contains the potential for many things. Then there are the different types of magic and how they interact. Innate magic, the personal power that a person wields, and then there is the natural magic that is found in nature and some creatures. There are places where great people have done great things simply because they cleverly combined natural magic with their own innate magic."

"This is one of those places." Lucius realised as he looked at the earth in his hands.

"Precisely. The magic contained in this soil is untainted with intent. If I were to plant a spring garden here, it would thrive and bloom, even in the middle of winter. That is why it must be harvested by hand. To retain as much as the natural magic it contains as possible. It will only be influenced when Voldemort takes possession of it. The natural magic will fuse with his and anchor him to the body. Permanently."

Lucius just nodded his head now, still collecting handfuls of clay. And as he looked down at them, visioning Voldemort in a new body, unable to be expelled from it and being nigh on impossible to kill… bile rose in the back of his throat as he nearly felt like throwing up. All he could think about now was that wretched body withering away and crumbling with age. Slowly. Trapping Voldemort in an extended death that was painful and inevitable… it would be poetic justice to some degree since the damned man had to be close to two hundred or thereabouts.

"You grasp magical theory quite well." Shinobu said after long minutes of silence.

Lucius shrugged. "Theory is one thing. Taking what you know from theory and applying it is quite a different matter."

Shinobu nodded his head silently and they returned to work. When they finally had the buckets full, Shinobu rose and grasped the handle on his. He motioned to Lucius to do the same before saying, "Follow me." Lucius did and they tromped into the house. They turned down a hallway and when they reached the end, Shinobu placed a finger against the wall and quickly sketched out a symbol.

There was a thunk from inside the wall and then it slid to the side smoothly, showing a flight of stairs that descended straight down. They started down, scones on the wall, gently lighting as they went down. The stairs stopped after a few minutes of walking down, and Lucius surmised that they were deep enough underground. This, combined with the wards, would easily hide any magical signature that would be emitted from Shinobu's work.

In the centre of the room was a large table, with a human shaped indentation right in the middle. Following along the other three walls was a long desk. It was interrupted on the other side by a set of shelves that was filled with books. Japanese ran down the length of their spines and Lucius didn't have the first clue about what they were about but, considering how to get in and what was done here, they were probably esoteric and highly illegal. Shinobu placed his bucket down on the middle table and motioned for Lucius to do the same.

"I think you will be a worthy apprentice," Shinobu finally said.

"I beg your pardon?" Lucius asked.

"You will apprentice me while I am constructing this body. Should something happen, which is very unlikely but still Harry Potter is here in Japan, someone will need to know how to fix things."

'_That's startlingly practical… this man is strange. He gardens, constructs bodies and likes to bait and torture Muggles in his spare time. Why, Bellatrix would love this man and how __**normal**__ he looks.'_ Lucius frowned. He hadn't signed up for this. But if he agreed, he might find the opening he needed to end this all. Or, at the very least, diminish Voldemort's potential power.

"How long did it take you to amass this knowledge?"

Shinobu shrugged. "Long enough. Voldemort is something of a rash young fool, but I believe he can do great things… if he would but only think them through and make contingency plans."

'_Long enough? Voldemort is a young fool? Just how old is this man?' _Lucius was struck with a fleeting image of Severus discussing Harry Potter with Dumbledore. A wet smack made him leave his thoughts and see Shinobu placing clay into the indentations on the table. Lucius did the same, mirroring his movements. It took nearly an hour to get all the clay out of the bucket and onto the table.

And then Shinobu did something Lucius was not expecting.

He picked up metal tools and started shaping the feet. Lucius stood back and watched as toes formed, then the bumps of ankle bones and the smooth lines of the Achilles tendons. Shinobu was fast and skilled. The legs were next, long and a bit on the lean side, narrow hips and more endowments than Lucius cared to think about given Voldemort's sexual inclinations. Shinobu finally stopped there, hands and upper arms covered in wet smears of clay. He walked over to a sink and filled it, washing his hands and arms thoroughly. Lucius remained silent the entire time. Normally, he would have had something to say, but silence seemed to be the best thing he could do.

"There will be a bit of clay left over," Shinobu finally spoke. "Tomorrow, you will try to make something from it."

Lucius nodded his head before, on the spur of a thought, added. "Yes Master."

"We shall eat dinner and I will tell you more of the magical theory behind _kagenin_."

For the first time in his life, Lucius was actually willing to shut up and truly listen.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"I'm telling you, for the last time, I am perfectly fine."

Harry looked at the woman in front of him. She was looking at him like she didn't buy it for one moment. Yuuki had called her _kidoushi_ to see to him. Harry was hesitant to call her a Healer, since she was currently convinced that whatever he was suffering from was in his mind and was determined to get to the root of it. Healers didn't really do that sort of thing. As far as he remembered, _kidoushi_ looked after a person completely.

And at the moment, it was creating a considerable delay in their plans. Kazuo had everything assembled into packs. Yuuki was waiting with him in her room. At least she had decided to give him a measure of privacy.

"Mr. Potter," the woman sat down on a chair. "You are more stubborn than a wabara-wabara. I can't help you unless you tell me something."

"There's nothing wrong with me…" Harry trailed off; he had completely forgotten her name.

"Hotaru Minekura," Hotaru sighed heavily as she watched him. Then she took a different tact. "Do you know what _chihi_, what bloodburn, is?"

"Bloodburn?" Harry echoed. He'd heard that term a few times before. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Because it's what you currently have," Hotaru regarded him for a moment. "I think you might be the first patient I've ever had to bludgeon with the truth rather than break it gently to."

"Yeah, well…" Harry frowned. He knew what she was implying. "But I'm completely human."

"I would beg to differ. There are a few species in the world that can interbreed with humans. But with the characteristic signs of being ready to mate, they all have some form of bloodburn. It's the body's way of preparing itself for mating, for passing on the best possible genes to potential children."

"This is ridiculous. I don't have time to deal with something like this."

"Do you know anything about your parents' medical history?" Hotaru paused. "Given you come from England, I'd be inclined to think that you might have Veela blood in your lineage. Or possibly vampire."

Harry scowled. "Doesn't this normally happen during puberty?"

"For women, yes. From the moment they start menstruating, they're able to bear children. So they start undergoing the changes sooner. And most females are done growing and maturing by the time they reach eighteen, generally. Men are a little bit different. In cases like this, men tend to reach the peak physical condition first. That generally happens when they reach their mid to late twenties, but every person is different. When they catch the scent of a suitable mate, it's basically telling their body that it's time. It involves a long discussion of pheromones, and I'm pretty sure that you don't want to hear it anytime soon. But there have been cases when people have met their mates before they fully matured and nothing happened."

"So you mean to tell me that my mate is old man Arashita?" Harry felt like nature was playing some colossal joke on him.

"As I have no idea who you're talking about, who knows? Anything is possible." Hotaru got up from her chair. "Your bloodburn doesn't seem too pronounced and you should be okay for a while. How long are you planning to be out of Shibahara?"

"No longer than a month." Harry really didn't need this now. "When we're done here, I'll probably head back to Makukage for a bit before heading home."

"Okay, when you're back, let me know. I'll look into having a potion brewed for you. Sometimes wooing your mate doesn't exactly work smoothly. In the mean time, I'll need to do some digging into your medical history. Is this okay with you?"

Harry just nodded his head. It wasn't like he was going to say no and then who knew what would happen. Hotaru just pulled out some sheets of paper and, surprisingly, a ballpoint pen. She stiffened the paper and had him sign the appropriate spots before she tucked them back into her travelling case.

Hotaru gave him a smile and Harry seriously wondered what there was to smile about. "Don't worry, these things have a nasty habit of working themselves out. Trust me on this one, even if you wish I hadn't said everything else I've said today."

That had far too many echoes of Dumbledore than Harry cared to admit. He just nodded his head and stood there, his arms crossed. Hotaru let herself out and Harry saw to putting his shirt back on. He had just sat down and was pulling his socks on when the door slid open and Yuuki stood there regarding him for a moment.

"So you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Harry said simply. "Let's get going. We've wasted enough time as it is."

"Making sure you're okay is never a waste of time. It beats the alternative of having to deal with whatever caused it out in the middle of nowhere."

Harry simply remained silent as he laced up his boots and then stood, summoning his cloak over to him with a wordless charm. He settled it over his shoulders as he left the room. Kazuo was standing in front of the door to Yuuki's room, holding out their packs to them.

"I put a charm on them to make them lighter. Don't want to lose it some other way."

Made sense to him, Harry did just that, before he cast a warming charm on his cloak. They were going to out there for a long while today. Kazuo seemed to notice what he did and nodded his head in approval.

"Good idea. Warming charms."

It only took ten seconds for Yuuki and Kazuo to do the same to their cloaks and there was already a pocket of warmth forming where they were standing. They walked out from the Ishida Inn and Kazuo reached into his pocket once more. There was a slim volume in his hand and Harry was pretty sure the ridiculously long title on the front indicated that it was some animal guide as issued by the Yamatai.

"We're heading to the first house at the furthest point from Shibahara. We're essentially trekking our way back and checking all the houses on our way," Kazuo held the book out. "This is out Portkey there. Are you all ready?"

Harry just grasped a corner of the book in response. Yuuki sighed and shook her head before she did the same. There was the sensation of being pulled apart while flying now came and when it finally stopped, Harry felt nauseous. He stood absolutely still for a moment, taking slow deep breaths. Yuuki was looking around, while Kazuo hand his hand palm up and in front of him, murmuring something. A few seconds later, light flared in his palm before settling down and aiming directly to Kazuo's right. Kazuo closed his palm, abruptly killing the light.

"All right, Kazuo turned directly opposite the direction of the light. "We'll head north-west first. The first house shouldn't be too far from where we are now. I tried to get us as close as possible."

"Aren't we Portkeying to the next house or Apparating there?" Yuuki sounded a bit puzzled.

"No. Aside from the ever changing conditions in the park, and the drain it would be on me, we might come across evidence of our quarry if we walk. They might be here, but they've probably been looking for food and the like. That means they're leaving the house and foraging and scavenging for what they can. Plus, there are kitsune in the park. Fox magic has a funny way of actually interfering with a wizard's innate magic."

Harry had heard the stories of people trying to Apparate away from kitsune, only to find themselves back in the same spot they had thought they had Apparated from. Kazuo gestured to them to follow as he started through the trees.

If there was an upside to doing this at the start of winter, it was that all the undergrowth and trees were bare of any cover. It opened up a much longer line of sight. It had snowed last night, the trees and the ground were covered in a good layer of the stuff, and it crunched loudly beneath their feet. The forest itself wasn't entirely silent. Every so often they would hear the harsh caw of a bird or the rustling of something digging at something in the frozen ground just out of sight. When the first house appeared through the trees a noise like a thunderclap boomed out and echoed, halting all other noise.

"What the hell was that?" Yuuki snapped.

"Oh, that's just from a raiju," Kazuo brushed some snow off his head. "They're hibernating for the winter. Their static buildup discharges itself every two weeks or so and that's –" Kazuo paused as another thunderclap echoed out across the park. "What you hear. Normally, they enter hibernation earlier but this year the snows came a little bit later than expected. I suspect it will be a vicious winter this year when it gets started."

"Then we'd better hurry. I know I don't want to be caught in a blizzard." Harry said simply.

Yuuki nodded her head and they hurried to the house. When Kazuo opened the door, the smell of age and disuse greeted Harry's nose. They all stepped into the house carefully, wands drawn and ready. It didn't take long to search the ground floor, the upper level or the cellar. The house itself wasn't very big and it took them less than twenty minute to look through. When they stepped back outside, Kazuo shut the front door and headed back to the forest, Yuuki coming up behind him. Harry looked at the house for a moment.

"Wait."

Harry drew his wand and cast the spell. A hissing sound came from the doors and the windows. Once the hissing stopped, he turned around to find Kazuo and Yuuki looking at him curiously.

"Temporarily sealed the house," Harry explained. "It'll stop them from entering the house. They'll eventually realise we're hunting them. This should help flush them out."

"Or make them more dangerous." Yuuki shrugged. "But it's a good idea nonetheless."

Kazuo nodded his head, a thoughtful look on his face. "They'll eventually have nowhere left to hide. But we need to get going. The next house is fairly far from here. If we push, we might get there at nightfall and we can make camp for the night."

They started walking into the bare undergrowth again and Harry felt grim determination settle in once more. This time it would be over for good.

_______________________________________________________________________________

If what he was learning wasn't: firstly, highly illegal and secondly, more than likely to get him killed in the inevitable end, Lucius was sure he might have been enjoying himself, albeit reluctantly. Shinobu was the sort of person who simply talked and then expected you to say it all back. It also didn't help that the man insisted he start learning Japanese. While Lucius could settle a contract in terms always favourable to him, or get laws passed with such vague legalese that they could be interpreted a million different ways… foreign languages was not his forte. That's what translation spells were for.

But this vaguely tetchy old bastard was insisting he actually learn to speak and write it, without any magical help. It was a method that smacked of Muggles. Needless to say, his attempts were abysmal at best. And that was the best glowing report Lucius could think of to describe it. The only thing Lucius knew how to write with ease was the number four: it was basically a box with two more lines inside. Aside from that, Lucius would have been more than happy to stick with just English.

However after the lesson from hell about three days ago, Shinobu has disappeared. If he was in his lab, Lucius wasn't getting in there any time soon. The door was locked with a specific symbol… something called kanji if Lucius recalled correctly. Draw the right one and you got in. He didn't want to think of what would happen if it was drawn incorrectly.

So here he was stuck in his room like a petulant schoolboy, forced to wait until Shinobu showed his face again. He frowned and walked over to the bedroom window. He opened it a bit more from the crack and breathed in the crisp cold air. Considering he wasn't dressed very warmly, maybe he could kill himself with something as ridiculous as the common cold. If only he was so lucky.

Frowning, he looked back at the blank sheets of paper and the brush on the desk. That was the other infuriating thing: he couldn't use a quill to write. Shinobu didn't approve of the, 'foolish, European writing implements.' All Lucius knew was that holding a brush felt strange, and in such a peculiar manner as well, hovering over the paper like a hawk about to move in for the kill. He had always been more adept at the more physical arts, such as sword play. As a child, given the choice between being cooped inside and going outside and indulging in the chance to get dirty and possibly vicious… it had been no contest. While he had undoubtedly been a little bit rusty from not practicing for the past –

"Hello."

Lucius managed to stay in place when Hanaki's face swung into view, upside down, from the roof above. Once his heart climbed back down into his chest, he asked the question that had been plaguing him for the past while.

"What are you?"

Hanaki seemed surprised by this question. He yanked the window open further and nimbly scrambled down so he was crouched on the sill. Lucius took a half-step back, watching him carefully. This boy was simply not normal, there had to be some sort of physical manifestation of that. _`Maybe his ears?'_ But those ears looked perfectly normal, rounded and nothing fey about them at all. _''The eyes sometimes tell…'_ But brown… no…black, no, that was impossible, wasn't it? Either way, a pair of eyes was looking at him intently. There was curiosity there, mingled with something else that seemed far too old for a child of twelve.

"I told you already." Hanaki cocked his head slightly. "What, a kid can't get into trouble?"

There seemed no point in pressing the issue, since Hanaki seemed unwilling to even acknowledge what Lucius was truly asking. Hanaki slid down from the sill, into the room and closed the window behind him. And immediately the kid was drawn to the desk in the room.

"What are you doing?" Lucius was asking before he could stop himself.

"Just curious about what you're doing," Hanaki leaned against the side of the desk, peering at the papers on the surface before laughing. "Your strokes are terrible. I know two year olds who can write better than that.

Lucius sedately walked over and shuffled the papers together. "I do not need judgement from the likes of you."

"Oh," Hanaki's voice took on an amused quality now, and he turned to look at Lucius. "But it looks like you could use some help."

'_Oh, now where did this enterprising tone come from?'_ Lucius slid Hanaki a sidelong look. "I'll manage just fine."

"I can help you… get Shinobu off your back about all of this."

To his credit, Lucius didn't give away any telltale signs. Not that he could tell anyways. He simply organised all the papers into a pile and started putting away the brush and ink. Thankfully, he hadn't bothered to actually write anything in ink; he'd just been practicing the strokes and trying to fight the urge of bashing his head against the wall. Of course the even more ludicrous thing was that he'd _actually_ been practicing when he didn't need to.

"You offer a lot more than anyone else would freely offer. What's the catch?"

Hanaki gave him a sly grin for moment and Lucius was struck with the impression of a distinctly pointed vulpine face. But it was there like a flash and gone so quickly that Lucius wasn't entirely sure that he even saw it. _'Or maybe you should try and ask Shinobu… if that even proves to be the slightest bit useful.'_ Lucius had a feeling that asking Shinobu about the creatures that lived in the forest might bring more problems than actually solve some.

"Can't someone do something from a genuine attempt to help you?"

"In my experience, no." Lucius finished flatly.

"That's a bit sad, don't you think. Well, I won't force aid on you, if you don't want it."

Hanaki moved away from the desk, regarding Lucius again with that cocked head. Nothing was said, as Hanaki simply looked at Lucius. All Lucius did was stare back at him. He didn't know what the… boy was expecting from him, but it certainly wouldn't be very forthcoming. After a few more minutes Hanaki sighed, shook his head and walked back to the window, opening it.

"You know," Hanaki's voice was deliberately casual as he hopped up to the window sill. "I still want to go with you."

Lucius remained silent in response.

Hanaki did some horribly acrobatic move that involved his hands grasping the ledge of the roof and then flipping himself up and backwards somehow. A second later, his head appeared once more, face upside down and hair hanging loose.

"It might help if you didn't grip the brush so tightly."

And with that, Hanaki's head vanished above the roof line again. Lucius strode over to the window and closed it. He didn't need advice from… from what Satoru was. He walked over to the desk and sat down, thinking. Shinobu had decided to teach him simply because Harry Potter was in Japan. If Lucius was lucky, then he'd have until the end of the month before he was found. Which meant he had only one choice to truly undermine Shinobu's kagenin technique: he had to learn as much Japanese as he could as fast as he could.

There were a few things that he had learned from all of Shinobu's prattling. While the construction of Voldemort's body was nearing completion, it still needed two key things to bring it to life: Voldemort's soul and the requisite _katsu_, the kanji needed to be carefully carven into Voldemort's clay body.

While Lucius had understood the theory, it had seemed like one of those antiquated things from the dawn of wizarding culture and was only remembered by a select handful. Shinobu's history lesson had proven useful more for the folk tale quality it possessed more than anything else. Apparently there were core kanji that, when combined, could imbue a clay body with attributes that would be become manifest when a soul entered it. These kanji stemmed back from antiquity, from the mists of Japanese history, and were passed down from master to disciple. The art form had changed very little since being conceived and would take much practice to learn.

Lucius was vastly amused by that fact, since he was planning on dying anyhow and was atrocious at acquiring any degree of proficiency in a foreign language.

But if he could figure out how to write 'death' on his own and somehow manage to carve it into the clay body in the lab… _'Have you forgotten, you'd need to know the kanji to enter the wretched lab? So unless you gain near perfect fluency in a short period of time, that avenue is not open to you.' _A frown came to Lucius face now as he set things back up at the desk and sat down. He had to learn to write death. He could vaguely recall Shinobu showing him the brushstrokes for the kanji, but damned if he could remember then now.

He might have to see if he could find an alternative method to subverting Voldemort's new body. He looked back at the paper on the desk and scowled as he walked over and sat down. He didn't know how long he spent practicing, but by the time streaks of red appeared in the sky, Lucius' hand was crabbed from the exertion of holding a brush so oddly. But, dare he say it, there seemed to be some minimal improvement over his previous kanji.

Of course, maybe some grammar lessons would be more helpful rather than the outright practicing that Shinobu had set him to. He sat at the desk, massaging the palm of his hand when he heard the sound of the door sliding in its track. He didn't turn around, but spoke.

"I assume you have been keeping busy."

"As I assume you have been as well.

Lucius kept digging his fingertips into the sore hand muscles. Shinobu walked over to the desk and peered over at the sheets of paper. When Lucius glanced up, there was a speculative look in Shinobu's eyes. Before he could really think about it, Shinobu pushed off from the desk and headed back for the door.

"Come, it's time for dinner."

Lucius got up from the desk and followed Shinobu down the hallway. Dinner was in the room overlooking the garden, as it had been before. The places were already set and Lucius waited until Shinobu was seated before settling himself down. Sitting cross-legged on the floor wasn't exactly Lucius' idea of civilized eating. But then again, he didn't sit on his legs like Shinobu did. How that man was able to stand up easily after nearly forty minutes of sitting on his legs was something entirely beyond Lucius. They started eating in silence and it was only after Lucius had finished off a plate that Shinobu spoke again.

"You're improving. You need to improve faster."

"I am improving as fast as I can." Lucius said after managing to swallow a mouthful of rice.

It seemed to stick halfway down Lucius' throat when Shinobu spoke again. "I have heard that Harry Potter is on the move. We shall need to make our move and soon."

Lucius forced himself to swallow and the rice seemed to sit in his stomach like a lump of lead. Or maybe he had less time than he originally thought he had. Suddenly his meal didn't look very appetising.

"Where is he looking?" Lucius finally managed to ask.

"Rashomon National Park… it's the nearest closest park to Shibahara," Shinobu paused. "I don't know what caused them to look there first. But I no longer have the luxury of letting you learn at your own pace."

'_Oh, yes, because I have nothing to do with this matter at all anymore now._' Lucius forced himself to start eating something else from the dishes in front of him. He didn't taste it, didn't quite matter at the moment. He was trying to figure out how Shinobu was going to cram as much information as possible into his head.

"Then what do you propose?" By some miracle, Lucius kept his voice from shaking. Years of iron control no doubt.

Shinobu didn't reply and the silence stretched on for what seemed like a small eternity. "I have heard of… methods that enable one to gain near perfect knowledge on… matters."

'_You are not letting him muck about with your brains! That's foolhardy and you'll invariably end up in some mental ward, drooling and having a Healer wipe your arse when you shit yourself. Is that what you want? The last of the Malfoy line an invalid and cared for… by the state?'_ Conversely, Lucius had to admit that it solved a crucial problem of learning as much as he possibly could in the shortest amount of time. But if the method did indeed tamper with his brain… that truly only could spell disaster. '_Finally, a shred of common sense from you.'_

"I will not take it," Lucius said abruptly. "Simply finish off the Dark Lord's body. Before Potter manages to hunt us down."

Shinobu nodded his head, looking at Lucius plate. "You haven't finished your dinner."

"I am not hungry."

Lucius could have sworn he saw anger flit across Shinobu's face when he said those words. But he couldn't quite tell. When Shinobu spoke, his voice was tight.

"If you intend to let yourself starve to death, then I will force the food down your throat."

Lucius looked Shinobu in the eye before he frostily said, "I beg your pardon?"

"You're disgusting. Sticks and bones… soon enough I'll be able to count your ribs. From what I can tell, you should be dead. But for some reason, you're not. I'm starting to think you're blessed by… something. It could be any number of things. But I swear, if you do not finish your meal, I will force it down your throat."

This was the first time that Shinobu had any sort of overt emotion leak into his voice. Lucius was sure he didn't look like the picture of health, but he must have been a far cry from a dead wizard walking. He frowned, sneering at Shinobu.

"I am not hungry." He repeated.

Shinobu's eyes clouded over and before Lucius could even say anything, he felt an unnatural feeling descend over his body. He glared at Shinobu, who simply raised a hand. Lucius felt terror creep through him when his right hand did the exact same thing, mirroring Shinobu.

"You Western wizards, with your wands," Shinobu sneered at Lucius. "You will take that potion. I am not giving you a choice in the matter Lucius Malfoy. I only asked to be polite."

'_Oh, how kind of you_.' Lucius' rage was building inside. '_That bastard dares do this to me.'_ Shinobu chuckled now and Lucius would have dearly loved to hex the man to within an inch of his life.

"I can feel you fighting," Shinobu regarded Lucius like he was a child throwing a tantrum. "But you can't throw me off. I'm much more powerful than you could ever imagine Lucius Malfoy. I was a child when your great-great-great grandfather was born."

Lucius' brain quickly did the math and came up with a number he didn't like in the slightest. If the average wizard lived to the ripe old age of around a hundred and thirty and Shinobu was a child three generations back… Shinobu had been born around the start of the seventeenth century or thereabouts. This was a development that Lucius hadn't foreseen at all. '_Who can anticipate dealing with a wizard who's close to four hundred years old and can basically change bodies like one changes clothes?_' Shinobu reached into his kimono and pulled out something that looked puke green and made Polyjuice potion look downright tasty. Lucius sat there watching as Shinobu unstoppered the bottle and poured it into a cup of tea. He gave it a swirl with a spoon before sliding it in front of Lucius.

"Tea does make it taste better believe it or not." Shinobu said slowly.

Shinobu reached a hand down and closed it around nothing. Lucius could only watch as his hand did the same, only it closed around the tea cup. The tea cup was raised and his lips parted. The tea was warm and slightly bitter as it hit his tongue and went down his throat. Once the cup was empty, Shinobu made Lucius rise. Lucius was trying very hard not to outright panic when he fell silently in step behind Shinobu and followed him. The door to the lab was open, and once they descended the stairs, Lucius could see that the room was full of books now. Shinobu lingered in the doorway, and Lucius wondered what was going to happen now.

"On the table and lie down."

Lucius could feel himself going over to the main table in the middle of the room and doing so. What kind of spell did Shinobu use if he could physically control Lucius as well as give verbal commands that would be followed? '_You're about to have someone mess about with your brain and you're wondering what kind of spell is holding you?'_ He forced himself to take deep breaths as he felt his magic snaking away from him. It seemed like it was webbing out from him, placing a small anchor to each individual book. And it was happening more rapidly too. Lucius could only lie there as his magic spread throughout the room. He could almost see it in his mind's eye, tendrils of his magic webbing the room and him in the middle like a giant spider waiting for –

The train of thought was broken as a wisp of information filtered into his head. Something to do with the transubstantiation of clay into flesh and blood and… no, now it was about the different types of katsu and what each class of them did to… '_You're literally absorbing the information from these books. Given the number of books in here, I'd say you have a small problem._' When conjugating irregular verbs one had to remember to change…

"Good," Shinobu's voice sounded pleased. "I'll be back tomorrow evening to see if you're still alive."

Lucius listened as the door scraped across the floor before closing with a dull thud. '_You know what that means: it doesn't hurt now, but it will later.'_

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Kazuo turned at Harry's question.

Harry frowned as he looked southwards. In the past few days they had searched and sealed another three houses. And it had all been too quiet. So when he felt a momentary flare of magic that was abruptly cut off, it was a bit of a surprise. But he wasn't too sure where it come have come from precisely. He looked back to find Yuuki scrutinising him hard.

"I'm fine," Harry said in a clipped tone. "It might have been my imagination, but I thought I felt a flare of magic."

"Might have been the kitsune. They'll be active right through the winter. They might be anywhere in the park." Kazuo frowned as he thought for a moment. "Hang on a second."

Harry watched as Kazuo quickly took his pack off his back and reach inside. He pulled out a stiff paper and a brush that gleamed wetly. Kazuo quickly wrote on three of them before tucking his supplies away and slinging his pack back on.

"Okay, these ofuda should do the trick." Kazuo passed his hand over the back and stuck one onto Yuuki's arm before doing the same to Harry and then himself. "These should keep the kitsune from coming to play."

Harry didn't even have the chance to really speak before Kazuo had finished everything. "What exactly is an ofuda?"

"It's a talisman," Kazuo explained as he started walking again. "It can be used for a lot of different things. I find it's useful for anchoring one's magic when kitsune are around. It makes it harder for them to play tricks on you and separate you if you're in a group."

"That's useful," Yuuki paused, looking up at the sky. "We might also want to hurry. It looks like the sun is starting to set."

"The house should be here, don't worry." Kazuo seemed unperturbed as he continued walking.

Harry glanced up at the sky for a moment. There was very little sun today and if the pearlescent clouds overhead were any indication, it was going to snow again. He looked back and followed after Yuuki. Harry had the distinct feeling that once they searched the house and camped down for the night, they wouldn't be going anywhere for a few days. Those clouds had the ominous look of a blizzard.

They continued on through, the sky gradually getting darker and darker. Harry was sure it was twilight by the time they got to the house. The inspection went quickly enough and they settled in for the night. Harry and Yuuki set up the sleeping bags, while Kazuo saw to a fire.

If there was one thing that Harry liked about Japanese wizards, it was how proficient they were at wandless magic. When he had asked Yuuki, she didn't know the exact reason why she didn't really use her wand, but she preferred to not be hindered by a piece of wood. And then she had promptly apologised to him. Harry didn't mind. It was also the reason why he was inclined to think that most other countries didn't interfere in Japan too much. If one had to fight a nation full of wizards and witches adept at wandless magic, it would make any self-respecting wizard take pause.

"Okay, fire's made," Kazuo set up a tripod over the fire and hung a small pot over top. "Stew okay with everyone?"

"Fine by me." Harry said as he sat down on his sleeping bag.

Yuuki nodded her head as well as she sat down. Kazuo quickly tossed things in the pot, poured in a bit of water and put the lid on. Harry didn't really care what it was, so long as it was hot and edible. He'd eaten worse things in worse places. They were silent watching the pot bubble and boil. But when the wind started howling a little bit later, Kazuo got up and went to the front door to look outside.

"I think we might be here for a while." Kazuo said as he came back and settled himself on his sleeping bag.

"Blizzard?" Harry asked.

"Yes. And it looks like it might take a day or two to wind itself out," Kazuo dug into his pack and drew out something Harry wasn't expecting to see.

"You knit?" Harry couldn't stop the question even if he tried.

Kazuo nodded as he set everything up and started knitting. "It's relaxing. And I've got to finish knitting Christmas presents. My nieces and nephews are expecting things from me."

"How many siblings do you have?" Yuuki asked.

"Too many," Kazuo grinned at them. "I've got seven total."

Harry wasn't exactly fazed by that one. It was just like the Weasleys. Yuuki however… well, her eyebrows seemed to have disappeared into her hair.

"And you're that close with all of them?" Yuuki watched Kazuo intently.

"Yes," Kazuo spoke slowly, as if Yuuki's question was puzzling. "Why wouldn't I be? They're my family."

"Hrm."

That was all Yuuki said before she shifted, staring moodily at the fire. Kazuo looked at Harry and all Harry could do was shrug. He didn't know what set Yuuki off. She had always been extremely reticent about anything regarding her family. But now there was a blank look on her face: she was thinking about something she didn't want either of them to figure out. Kazuo made a vague sound of displeasure, but paused in his knitting.

"I brought some books if anyone wants to read."

"You came prepared for everything." Bringing something for cabin fever would not have occurred to Harry at all.

Kazuo nodded and handed Harry a slim book. "Sometimes we get stuck because of blizzards in the winter. Having nothing to do and just listening to the wind howling is the worst thing a Ranger can go through."

Harry just nodded his head and opened the book. Kazuo placed the small pile beside him and went back to his knitting. After about five minutes of brooding, Yuuki snapped out of it and took a book as well. The atmosphere around the fire was quiet and subdued. When Kazuo started doling out bowls of stew, Yuuki still had that blank look on her face. And when she took the bowl, she was making rather mechanical motions.

Harry really couldn't wait for this to be over with.

_______________________________________________________________________________

'_I do think it is official: you're dead. You certainly haven't achieved anything you've set out to do. But on the bright side Potter is probably only a few days away from Voldemort.'_ Opening his eyes slightly only made Lucius squeeze them back shut. The light in the lab was dim, but Lucius might as well have been looking directly at the midday sun.

Lucius lay there on the table, trying to take stock of his physical condition. It wasn't very good. Everything seemed to throb as one big ache. It took a few minutes to sort out the various aches and pains. Not that it made much of a difference. His muscles felt sore and his bones ached. He didn't even want to know the reason for that. But his head was the part that hurt the most.

'_It's a tad crowded in here. And thanks to that jackass, there's probably no way to make it less crowded. You're stuck with all this useless, and probably highly illegal, information in your head.'_ Lucius frowned as he slowly opened his eyes and kept them open.

The brightness seemed to dim to a shimmering luminescence. He sat up slowly, muscles not protesting as much as he had suspected they would. He sat there for a moment, breathing slowly and deeply before he looked down at his hands, really looked at them. They were gaunt and thin. The skin seemed to be stretched tight over the bones and the little remaining flesh. The nails were clean but the edge was ragged. He clenched a hand as tightly as he could and the bones and tendons seemed to be thrown into sharp profile. There seemed to be a greenish tinge to his flesh that made him think that gangrene or something else might have been taking hold.

In that one moment, Lucius was partially disgusted at himself. That hand looked utterly repulsive. It was a hand that spoke of barely eking it out to survive, and was willing to do whatever it took. And it was his hand. He slowly slid off the table, disturbed by the glowing room. He could feel anger start to course through him again. He didn't know at what point he passed out and who knew how long he had been out for. As far as Lucius knew now, he was damaged somehow, probably beyond any hope of a cure. After all, rooms didn't just glow by themselves.

There was a slight thud from the wall that had Lucius running for the spot to the right beside the door. It seemed more like a gut reaction more than anything else. He gritted his teeth, watching as the door swung in and Shinobu walked in. Shinobu's steps echoed now as the man walked into the room, and the anger coursing through Lucius morphed into a flash flood. This man would die for what he did.

Shinobu was almost at the table when Lucius darted out from behind the door. His hand connected with the back of Shinobu's head and he grasped a hunk of hair. There wasn't anything Shinobu could do as Lucius drove his face against the table. There was a moment of resistance and then a soft crunching sound. When Lucius jerked back Shinobu's head, there was blood dripping from his nose.

'_Well, you might be emaciated and on the verge of death, but it's nice to indulge in the physicality of beating someone up, isn't it?'_

A snarl came from Lucius now as he threw Shinobu to the ground and aimed a kick right for the kidney. Shinobu took the hit but grabbed Lucius' ankle and jerked. Lucius fell to the ground hard, landing awkwardly on his side. Shinobu staggered to his feet, wiping at his nose. It was then that Lucius got a good look at Shinobu.

There seemed to be an aura around him, a blackness that Lucius that had never seen in his life. The best description that Lucius could summon to mind at the moment was that it was a void of nothingness that surrounded the man. _'Maybe it's because of how he extends his life? He has no aura left, so to speak. Either that or he's well and truly damned, in which case, spectacular job getting involved with this psychotic sociopath.'_

"This is how you repay me after –"

Shinobu started to speak but his words were abruptly halted when Lucius kicked him viciously in both knees. When Shinobu crashed to the ground, Lucius aimed another kick for the soft belly. It sank in deep and the wind left Shinobu's lungs in a wheeze. Lucius had no intention of listening to Shinobu extol the virtues of whatever the hell had been done to him. Who knew who else this had been inflicted on and Lucius would do his damned best to see two murdering psychopaths dead. Sure, it would be the first bit of murder he'd committed in an extremely long time, but he wasn't about to let a little thing like that stop him now. It would only mean his death.

It only took a moment to scramble on top of Shinobu and another moment to wrap his hands tightly around the man's throat. Shinobu started gasping and wheezing as his already empty lungs struggled to fill themselves with oxygen once more. Lucius felt a surge of triumph when Shinobu's eyes started rolling back into his head. It was short-lived though when Shinobu drove the heel of his palm hard and fast against Lucius' sternum repeatedly.

Lucius' grip released as he clutched at his chest with both hands. Sharp pains radiating out towards his heart was enough to make him panic and let go. Shinobu was drawing in harsh, ragged breaths, filling his lungs with as much air as quickly as possible. The pain in Lucius' chest still hadn't subsided and Lucius was loathe to try anything else. Now what had Shinobu done to him?

"I'll give you this," the streaks of dried blood under Shinobu's nose flaked away as he spoke. "You do have some fight left in you. "

Lucius still rubbed at his sternum, watching warily. Shinobu got up and started feeling around his nose. Obviously he didn't like what he felt since he grabbed it between his thumb and index finger and wrenched it a bit to his right. There was a sliding crunching sound that was rather sickening, and more blood started leaking from Shinobu's nose again. Shinobu simply kept wiping it away, watching Lucius all the while.

'_I'd say you've either amused him or you are about to meet your end Lucius Malfoy.'_ Lucius didn't say anything, simply standing up slowly. When the blood finally stopped flowing from his nose, Shinobu spoke.

"Voldemort's body is completely carved now. Do you know what needs to be done?"

Lucius couldn't quite believe he was hearing this question. He'd just tried to kill the man, and Shinobu was acting like nothing was out of place. _'Or maybe he really does need the help, and he truly has chosen you as his successor… for whatever reason.'_

"Yes, I know what needs to be done." Lucius replied sullenly.

Shinobu nodded his head. "And do you know the appropriate _katsu_ to use?"

"Yes."

"And do you realise we are speaking in Japanese?"

Lucius stared at the man. "I beg your pardon?"

"I might take you a bit to differentiate between the two, but right now, you are speaking in perfectly fluent Japanese. A little bit formal, but Japanese nonetheless."

Lucius frowned at that. He hadn't heard a single difference in the language he spoke. It all still seemed like English to him. Shinobu seemed far too smug and Lucius was not inclined to ask why everything seemed to have a patently visible aura now. He didn't know how Shinobu would respond and Lucius more than suspected that the answer now lay inside his brain.

"Go wash up," Shinobu said. "And when you are done, meet me back down here. We shall start the imbuing process."

Lucius turned to leave and the door swung shut behind him. His steps were slow and it took him awhile to make it back to his room. He spent a long time in the shower, weird contraption that it was. It seemed to take forever to scrub away the accumulated dirt and sweat. He watched it sluice down the drain pipe, a few soap bubbles lingering behind. He scrubbed a few more times before turning his attention to his hair. There were a few snarls in it and it took some doing to work out, but it finally clung to the back of his neck, wet and clean. He turned off the shower and went to the tub. The water was warm and it soothed his aching body. He didn't know how long he stayed in there, but he did doze off. When he woke up, there was a crick in his neck and, as the water was still warm, he felt like he'd been simmering for a while. Why else would his skin be so red?

He got out drying himself off, and slipped into the fresh kimono that had appeared from somewhere. A house elf maybe? He hadn't seen any sign of anyone else besides Shinobu living in this house. If there were house elves, they could pose a problem. If one of them spoke about Hanaki –

'_Kitsune… that's what he is.'_ The answer just floated into Lucius head, startling him into silence and immobility now. It was the only thing that made sense. All the things he seemed to know, all the things that he did and said that he could. Not to mention slipping past some of the most powerful wards Lucius had ever felt as if they were nothing but child's play. _'You actually might startle the grin off his face the next time he comes around.'_ Lucius finished tying his kimono shut and he started pulling on the weird pats. As far as he could tell the hakama went overtop the kimono… _'Never knew that before did you?'_ Lucius frowned as he finished dressing, trying to not think too much of anything else. It was weird having answers simply pop into his head.

He made his way back downstairs, facing the sealed door to Shinobu's lab. It took a moment of staring at the door before Lucius pressed a finger against it and quickly sketched out the kanji for 'open.' There came the familiar thud and then the door slid open. The lab still had that strange luminescence about it, and Shinobu was standing at the tableside, in his void. Lucius walked over to the opposite side of the table and studied the body. It seemed that Shinobu had truly finished with Voldemort's new body. Everything, right down to fingernails and even hair had been sculpted out of the clay. Lucius could already see what would happen. The katsu would be carved it, tiny and unnoticeable, the only things marring Voldemort's body, even as they imbued it with abilities. Or it would be written on in special ink, soaking into the clay and spreading through.

Shinobu was over at a table, and Lucius realised there was a rhythmic grinding sound. It took him a moment longer to realise it was the sound of stone grinding against stone. Lucius walked over to see Shinobu grinding up ink on a slab of stone. There was a brush waiting beside an empty inkwell and Lucius picked up the brush, looking at it. If shinobu let him draw on the katsu, Lucius ddidn't know which one he could use to subvert Voldemort's body. _'Rot… pestilence… death…'_ the corresponding kanji floated through his head.

Lucius didn't want Voldemort to have a quick death. He wanted it to be as slow and as painful as possible. Something protracted that would see Voldemort suffer enough for a few lifetimes before he finally died.

And suddenly, Lucius knew what he would do and how it would end. It was one of those strange moments of blinding clarity that fade all too fast. It left Lucius with a feeling that everything would work out as it should in the end.

"Here," Shinobu handed the grinding stone to him. "Finish preparing the ink. I need to inspect the body one last time."

Lucius took the stone from Shinobu and started grinding. And as soon as Shinobu was at the other table, with his back towards Lucius, a smile broke out over Lucius face. This was even better.


End file.
